AN ARTIST from Ryedale has won a national art competition.

Derek Thrippleton, 78, of Kirkbymoorside, received the good news this week that he had taken the top prize in the UK wide Supporting All Artists (SAA) Artist of the Year Competition, for his painting of an elephant.

The painting won Derek the Supporting All Artists Award in the wildlife Animal or Wildlife category, which had 2960 entries and 306 finalists.

Derek said: “It came at a bit of a shock - after 300 finalists – to even have a chance.”

After receiving the email, Derek explained that he rushed to tell his wife, Dorothy.

“She got more excited than I did,” he said.

Derek added that he does not show his emotions as well as his wife.

“If I won the Euros (EuroMillions) I’d just say, ‘oh well then’ and get on with it,” he said.

Derek has now been invited to a winners preview event in Nottingham on September 30, which he says he will be attending.

“It will be nice to go to the ceremony, I am quite looking forward to it.”

He said that he has entered previous competitions at a national level, but this is the first that he has won.

Derek commented that he would regularly be the runner up, but not win.

“Always the bridesmaid and never the bride,” he said.

For more information on the SAA’s Artist of the Year Competitoin, visit their website: https://www.saa.co.uk/artists-of-the-year/