ARTIST Cathy Taylor is in the frame for a national award for her painting of conger eels off Portland.

She has reached the final of the Wildlife Artist of the Year competition run by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

Cathy’s picture is going on show with the 100 other finalists at the Mall Galleries, in the Mall, in London from June 2 to June 6.

Cathy, aged 43, who lives with husband Ian in Dawlish Crescent, Weymouth, said: “I’m ecstatic.

“Just to get in the exhibition is quite amazing. It’s the first London exhibition that I have entered.

“I’m really chuffed.”

Cathy, who has a BA Hons in fine art, is a professional artist who paints portraits and takes on commissions.

Her colourful entry in the Wildlife Artist of the Year contest is 11 conger eels poking their heads out of a shipwreck.

She based it on a picture taken by her husband Ian when he was out diving.

Cathy said: “He was diving with a friend on a wreck off Portland.

“He grabbed his friend’s camera when he saw the conger eels. They were actually out of the hole and shot back in when the flash went off.”

She added: “It is quite unusual to see that many together at the same time.”

Cathy has entered the Wildlife Action category in the contest. The overall competition winner will take home £10,000.

She said that her husband Ian and her son Jake Guildford, aged 13, were both delighted for her.

Cathy and Ian run the Skin Deep Diving charter boat and diving trip business in Weymouth.

They will be going to London for a private viewing of the exhibition in June.

Other finalists have painted pictures of pandas, tigers, rhinos, snakes, bees, bears and frogs.

The exhibition will also feature exhibitions by three generations of the Shepherd family. It will include works by David Shepherd, his daughter Mandy and his granddaughter Emily.