A HAMBLEDON artist is selling off some of her back catalogue to help children in crisis around the world.

Michele Griffiths set up ART4AID after realising the full horror of the Mediterranean refugee tragedy while visiting a small Greek island.

Her perception of the seascape changed after hearing some distressing accounts from a volunteer who helped refugees arriving on the shore of a nearby island.

“I was shocked and moved to tears to hear her first-hand account of going to the water’s edge at first light and finding some of the people washed up there dead,” said the fine art painter.

“These included children the same age as hers.”

Michele decided to help Save The Children by donating half the proceeds from an online sale of her less recent work to the charity.

Sales from her ART4AID scheme raised £1,000 for the good cause, but she has decided to hold another one after witnessing the plight of the Rohingya people in Myanmar and children caught up in the war in Yemen.

Some £500 has already been raised as a third of the 26 paintings – which can be viewed at www. michelegrif fiths.com – have been snapped up.

Michele, who completed a major commission of 12 large oil canvas paintings for the top deck of P&O cruise liner, Britannia, in 2015 – would love to raise £1,000 or more but every penny will help.

She said: “They’ve been selling fast and the whole project has been quite successful so far. I thought it would be a good way to raise money and to de-clutter my studio, as being a professional artist ,I tend to produce a lot of work.”

Anyone interested in buying one of Michele’s paintings should e-mail her at: michele@michelegriffiths. com