Last weekend, Castle Park Arts Centre announced that local artist, Sophie Parr, had been chosen as the overall winner of its 35th Open Exhibition for her painting, 'Gorse Up on the Bank'.

Sophie, who is also a secondary school art teacher, was "absolutely delighted" to have been recognised in this way.

"You enter a piece because you want people to see your work, not because you see it as a competition you're planning to win. So it's a big ego boost for me!" she said.

'Gorse Up on the Bank' depicts moments from a walk around Rawhead, the highest point on the Sandstone Trail.

"It was a really bright blue, sunny day, and I wanted to get the yellow of the gorse to stand out against the textures of the bank and the bracken," Sophie told me.

The result is a dynamic and textured scene, where fronds of busy undergrowth seem to burst from the canvas, full of the crisp crackle of autumn.

"I was keen to produce something that people round here would be able to identify," Sophie said.

"My response to the landscape is very emotional, and I think this is also the case for the people who buy my work. So, creating something from recognisable local landscapes has become quite important to me."

A keen photographer as well as a painter, Sophie normally begins a piece by taking pictures of interesting things she sees while out walking her dog.

"Taking a photograph is my main starting point, having been there, living and breathing the place. It's not the same getting a photograph from a magazine and deciding to paint it," she explained.

"To start with, all the sweeping landscapes around Burwardsley and Rawhead were my inspiration, but as time has gone on, the littler things have caught my attention.

"I'm out noticing these small details every day. The things that I am working on now are very much to do with the hedgerows and how they change along with the weather and the time of year."

For example, at the moment, Sophie is really interested in capturing the particular quality of "autumn days when the sky is thundery and the sun's shining, making the trees look really yellow.

"I like to be outside; I love the colours and textures and I want to record them. That's just part of my identity I think. If you look on my phone, there are just hundreds of pictures of hedgerows!

"I'm working on a bit of a challenge at the moment. It's actually a painting of a pile of weeds!

"The plant is called fireweed and it's quite spiky. In the summer it has little pink flowers, and then in the autumn it goes bright red.

"I got some really nice photos of that on a dog walk, so I decided to paint it, and it's probably the most complicated thing I've done! But I'm really enjoying it because it's really colourful and autumnal."

You can watch out for the finished product of Sophie's fireweed project on her website, where you can also browse through her gallery of beautiful seascapes and Sandstone Trail paintings.

Sophie hopes to return to Castle Park soon with her latest joint exhibition with fellow local artist Sue Marsden, which is planned for the spring of next year.

Castle Park Arts Centre will now be closed until the end of lockdown, but you can still get your daily art fix by following the regular posts on their Facebook page.