Ellen Riley
Ellen Riley, who exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, aged 16, following a nationwide search for young artistic talent and a year later was the North-West winner of ITV’s “A Brush with Fame”, moved to Paris in 2007 and continued to pursue her artistic career. She met Cédric Charleuf and looked set for success on the Parisian art scene, but on November 6 last year, three days before her 22^nd birthday she lost the ability to move her left foot. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour a week before she was due to open her first solo exhibition at the fashionable Swiss Village in Paris. Her cancer is incurable but that hasn’t stopped her working. Repatriated to her Lancashire roots she’s making the most of her situation. While she says her artwork is therapeutic- “it keeps me going because time is ticking and I’ve got paintings to do”- it is also in demand. Churches, community exhibitions and private commissions have all come forward to keep her busy.