An artist is holding an exhibition to raise money for Lymphoma Action after her niece tragically died shortly after giving birth.

East Anglian Daily Times: Wendy Brooke-Smith lives in Great Oakley and is raising money for Lymphoma Action through her Landscape for Life exhibition. Picture: WENDY BROOKES-SMITHWendy Brooke-Smith lives in Great Oakley and is raising money for Lymphoma Action through her Landscape for Life exhibition. Picture: WENDY BROOKES-SMITH (Image: Archant)

Wendy Brooke-Smith was inspired to put together the Landscapes for Life exhibition after losing her niece Ella Martin in November last year, six months after having her first child.

Diagnosed during her pregnancy, the Norfolk raised 32-year-old didn’t respond to treatment for the cancer and sadly passed away, leaving newborn son Teddy with her loving husband Justin.

Wendy, from Tendring, had originally planned to hold the exhibition in March but was forced to reschedule, and launched the week-long event in Fulham on Tuesday, October 6.

The art includes famous East Anglian landscapes such as the docks at Felixstowe, the sea wall on Mersea Island and Mistley Quay.

The 61-year-old artist lives in Great Oakley with her husband John and retrained after having children, to fulfil her creative ambitions.

Daughter Holly, who has just given birth to her first grandchild, is the same age as niece Ella, while her brothers Marcus and George are now aged 30 and 27.

Completing a foundation at Suffolk College (now the University of Suffolk) Wendy went on to work part-time, achieving a fine art degree in 2008, and her first exhibition was on the Waterfront in 2010.

“I waited until my youngest child went into school full time before I started the course,” she explained.

“When I was younger I always enjoyed art and luckily I was able to train part time with the support of my husband to help with doing school runs.

“It was really sad losing Ella and it has given me the focus for this exhibition, as a creative and positive way to raise money.

“There’s still a lot of hard work to do with lymphoma and we’ve had a nice steady trickle of sales throughout.”

The exhibition at Ad Lib was created in partnership with two other Norfolk artists who were close friends with Ella, Tor Falcon and Raven Cozens-Hardy.

The installation closes on Sunday, October 11 and has already raised £4,600 for Lymphoma Action.

Artwork from all three is available to view and buy online.