Angela Smyth: Faith, Hope and Gloria and the colourful world of Dulux

She doesn't disappoint.

Standing in the lift that takes us up to her Sowerby Bridge studio, she warns: "I should probably mention that there are poles in the studio – it used to be used to teach people how to do pole dancing."

There is a twinkle in her eye.

A woman whose paintings feature voluptuous ladies indulging their every whim and not a few fantasies, it's hardly a surprise that Smyth has a wicked sense of humour.

Unlike her buxom creations, Smyth is petite – but like them, she doesn't take herself too seriously.

"It's a job. I get in the studio at 9.30am and work until fairly late. It's a wonderful job, but that's what it is,"

says Smyth.

It was five years ago that this mother of one decided – without any formal training – to see if she could make a go of a latent talent for painting.

"I had been doing doodles and sending them off to publishers; it was a bit stupid, really. I didn't know what I was doing," she says.

"Now that I know what the industry is like, it's a bit embarrassing that I used to do that."

The artist had done what appears to be several people's fair share of jobs – bar manager, shop assistant, secretary – before she gave up working to concentrate on raising her son.

When she was younger, she hoped to train as an artist but hadn't passed enough exams to go to college.

Art went on the back burner and she set about earning a living. When Alistair (now eight) was born, she found herself at home and started painting again. Encouraged by her husband Chris, she began to take her art more seriously.

Five years ago, the breakthrough came – a caf in Sowerby Bridge accepted a number of paintings to exhibit, and they sold out within a week.

"I still remember selling my first painting, the first time I sold one to someone who wasn't a friend or a family member. It was amazing to think that a stranger wanted to buy my work," she says.

An agent took on Smyth and she rented a studio above another caf in Sowerby Bridge.

"He started getting my work out, and I got into the habit of painting every day, going to the studio, and producing work."

Training or not, her instinct for painting was finally recognised and galleries around the country began taking her work.

Local people in Sowerby Bridge, where Smyth admits she is a "serial people watcher", provide bountiful characters to appear in her paintings.

Leaving the studio, we visit Caf No 5, where Smyth used to rent the top floor as a studio, before moving to an industrial estate a little further out of town.

The main characters who appear in her paintings – Faith, Hope and Gloria, are a blonde, brunette and a redhead. In the caf, Smyth points out the members of staff who directly inspired her three most painted characters.

"The redhead is the naughty one, the drinker. The dark haired one is more me, and the blonde is a lot of fun," laughs Smyth.

The sense of fun is almost palpable in both the paintings and in Smyth's attitude to her art. Given that she started to paint seriously so recently, she is still trying to get used to the fact that price tags for her work have climbed past 3,000.

"I don't take myself too seriously. I was on the cover of Artist and Illustrators magazine and I admitted to using Dulux paint," says Smyth.

"I couldn't believe the reaction – some people got in touch to say, 'Well done for admitting it' but a lot of artists were saying, 'How can you be taken seriously if you admit to using Dulux?'"

Smyth laughs.

"It doesn't matter to me; if it all went away tomorrow, I would go back to working in a shop and I would keep painting. I don't know why people in the art world feel they have to behave in a certain way.

"I love doing it, but it's not everything to me."

It'd Be Rude Not To... Angela Smyth, Ryburn Galleries, Sowerby Bridge, today until Christmas.