AN INVENTIVE artist from Harpenden has gone radical with her choice of canvas. Glyn Goodwin, aged 54, is the town s first professional tummy painter and last week the Coleswood Road resident won an international award for the tiger-in-a-jungle scene she

AN INVENTIVE artist from Harpenden has gone radical with her choice of canvas.

Glyn Goodwin, aged 54, is the town's first professional tummy painter and last week the Coleswood Road resident won an international award for the tiger-in-a-jungle scene she painted on a pregnant woman's body.

Glyn, who has been a face painter for more than 20 years, entered five of her tummy paintings in the competition hosted by Snazaroo, an American paint brand whose website showcases the very best of gestational art. Her animal painting beat 50 other entries from painters across the globe, including a Dutch artist whose safari scene won third place.

Said Glyn: "I was absolutely staggered to win and overjoyed that all of my entries got honourable mentions. It's funny to think that I only became aware of tummy painting in the last three or four years. It's so fun to do and I plan to work on my tummy painting even more in the New Year."

Glyn said that her pioneering work has caused quite a stir among the locals and last week she was invited for an interview on BBC Three Counties Radio. She took a model - the seven months pregnant sister of a fellow face painter - to the BBC studios in Luton and, while talking to the DJ, she painted a winter wonderland on the woman's tummy.

The painting, which shows two snowmen playing and Father Christmas on his sleigh in the background, took just under an hour and is one of many in Glyn's expanding portfolio. Other examples include a nativity scene - a request from a friend of Glyn's daughter Sophia - and a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Glyn said that her models got just as much out of her work as she did and added: "A lot of pregnant women are used to having a gestational massage and it's sort of a move on from there but with something to show for it at the end. I've found that people either love or hate the idea."

Glyn is offering her services to women who want a unique way of recording their pregnancy and she is looking forward to working with creative mothers-to-be who want to design their own paintings.

Anyone who fancies a tummy paint from Glyn, whether they are pregnant or not, can contact her on 07979071287. Examples of her work can be found at www.fantasticfacesfacepainting.co.uk