DONA Bradley hadn’t drawn for years and only rediscovered how much she loved it when she changed career at age 40, retraining as an interior designer.

When the work came to an end with the recession a brilliant question from her job centre contact “What makes you happy?” sparked the beginnings of her journey into illustration.

Now working under the name dona B drawings, she will be a new exhibitor at this year’s Swindon Open Studios.

“I specialise in drawing illustrations of buildings - people’s homes, wedding venues and urban landmarks,” she said. “Any building that is a special place that people feel a relationship with is inspiration for me to start drawing. I work mostly to commission but have been enjoying developing my own greetings cards of places in Bristol and now, Swindon. I’ve even had requests to design wedding invites and a conference logo.”

Dona starts her work with a pencil hand-drawing of the building or view and then creates an ink overlay to bring out some of the main features. These drawings are then scanned in to her computer where she spends many hours ‘painting’ her illustrations with digital colour, shading, layering and adding highlights until it’s just right. She adds in a watercolour sky before printing onto lovely textured art paper or canvas for a finished piece that can be framed ready to hang.

She has been drawing some of the main landmarks of Swindon this year and is creating a range of colouring-in cards and posters and a Swindon calendar especially for the Open Studios event. Her work will be on display at Swindon Central Library on Sunday, September 4 and Saturday, September 10.

“I’ll have my portfolio with me at Central Library so I can show my process to visitors who are interested in how I work,” said Dona. “I’ll have some of my prints, the Swindon calendars, colouring-in cards and posters and I might bring along some of my Christmas cards too. It’s never too early.”

Dona said she loved the urban landscape she has discovered in Swindon.

And she added:“For anyone thinking they’d love to get more creative I’d say you have to just give it a go. It’s never too late and there are so many ways to create art that you’ll definitely find one for you. Keep going and believe in yourself.”

For more information about Dona’s work follow her on Facebook at www.dona-b-drawings.co.uk on Twitter @dona_b_drawings or on Instagram at donabdrawings.