A DOCTOR turned artist will have her work seen across the world after her collages were published on an international calendar.

Dr Aruna Mene, a retired consultant histopathologist who used to work at Royal Blackburn Hospital, has had six of her collages published on a calendar entitled Joy of Living, which has been published by the Japanese chemical company Tosoh Corporation.

One of the collages is a recreation of a photograph Dr Mene took of Winter Hill, Rivington and the collages all represent places she has visited, including Costa Rica, Provence and London.

Dr Mene, from Heaton, specialises in making colourful and exotic fabric collages and has held solo exhibitions in London and the North West.

This calendar will be distributed to Tosoh's clients all over the world, in Europe, South America and South East Asia.

With her work getting more and more interest from abroad, there is plenty of 'joy' in Dr Mene's life at the moment.

She said: "I'm very honoured that somebody has liked my pictures enough to have them on a calendar.

"I got the call from Tokyo, which was completely out of the blue.

"These collages show that life is full of joy and happiness and the world is colourful and beautiful, you just need to look for it.

"Hopefully people will feel this when they look at the calendar."

In making her collages, Dr Mene bonds assorted shapes with waste fabrics onto a canvas and then embellishes them with colourful stones or even edible seeds to give that uplifting feeling.

All the money Dr Mene makes from the sales of her collages goes to good causes, including the neonatal unit at University College Hospital in London.

She regularly takes part in arts and crafts activities at Bolton Art Circle and the Rotary Club of Bolton Lever and is also a member of the Medical Art Society.

More of Dr Mene's work can be seen on her website at www.arunamene.com.