Having exhibited paintings across the North West -- and in Majorca -- artist Michelle Fielding tells PAULINE HAWKINS how she changed course to concentrate on her art.

WORKING as a designer for a greetings card company sounds like a good job for a talented artist.

But, like many inventive and gifted designers, Michelle Fielding needed to escape the twin straitjackets of working for someone else and having to conform to others' ideas.

So she broke free and, although she is working part-time at Next in Preston to keep the money coming in, she's pleased she decided to obey her heart and follow her dream.

She now specialises in floral and contemporary art and has already sold more than 80 paintings. Her work is currently being exhibited at the Watergate Gallery in Watergate Street, Chester, the Howick Gallery in Preston, the Churchill Gallery in Knutsford, Cheshire, and Gallery 2 at Windermere, in the Lake District.

Michelle, 25, of Whalley Old Road, Mellor Brook, also hopes to be able to exhibit some of her art in Paul Heathcote's Manchester restaurant in June and recently sold a piece which does not fit her usual criteria -- a colourful lobster -- and a floral painting to the Feilden's Arms restaurant not far from her home.

But visitors to Palma, capital of the holiday island of Majorca, may see Michelle's work in the Galeria L'Auba furniture and fine arts shop in the city, where last autumn she successfully persuaded the shop owner to display some of her colourful paintings.

Michelle, a former pupil of Westholme School, Blackburn, said: "I have been on holiday to Palma -- it is a nice city. I flew the paintings out in some boxes and took them around, just the same as I have done in England.

"I haven't sold any over there yet but there has been interest in one. They are in bold colours, quite a contrast to the style the Spanish usually go for. They seem to buy very dark paintings with dark wooden frames, which is surprising really because it is a brightly-coloured country."

The individual style she has cultivated took a few years to evolve. On leaving school Michelle went to Blackpool and Fylde Art College where she took an art foundation course before studying fashion and textiles at Ravensbourne Design and Communication College in Greater London for six months.

She then studied fine art sculpture at Sheffield Hallam University but was later offered a job at Kingsley Cards in Skipton. She travelled daily to Skipton for two years but found the work did not allow her the freedom of expression she craved.

Michelle said: "I just hadn't found what I was looking for. It was too structured and I really wanted to do something else. I has so many ideas but I couldn't use any of them, so I opted to go part-time and started painting from home on Thursdays and Fridays.

"In the summer of 2000 I decided to go for it and now I travel round targeting galleries with my art work."

Michelle is available for commissions and last year went to Westholme Middle School where she produced eight huge pieces of artwork which formed a mural in the library. The 6ft pieces featured "funky flowers with faces" and Michelle took groups of eight who helped her create the background, enabling every girl in the school to play a part in each piece.

She remembers her own excitement at creating artwork as a child.

"When I was little I used to sit there for hours with felt tip pens and a pad my mum had given me. I was very neat. When I went to Westholme they brought it out of me and I carried on.

"I went to one of the top universities for fashion and textiles in the country but I was so disappointed -- the only thing I enjoyed was the print making. I missed painting and came home after six months. Then I did fine art sculpture but got a bit frustrated as to where my degree was going to lead me. I went to work for the card company a week before I left Sheffield and really enjoyed it. But things started getting very structured and I got frustrated.

"I sold my first painting in 2000 to the Art Decor gallery in Whalley. I have taken photos of every one I have painted and sold since. I am really pleased because they are all originals and no two are alike."

This week Michelle was visiting galleries in Manchester and her contacts in Chester, who are in touch with 18 galleries, have offered to take her work to Leicester and Nottingham.