LOWESTOFT tiny tot Poppy Attwell is to have her paintings exhibited in London after impressing the judges in a national competition.

LOWESTOFT tiny tot Poppy Attwell is to have her paintings exhibited in London after impressing the judges in a national competition.

Four-year-old Poppy is a finalist in the Butlins Toddler Art Prize.

Her Olympics-inspired paintings were shortlisted from hundreds of entries.

And later this month they will be exhibited at Blackall Studios, in the east London art district.

Her mother Beverley, of Claremont Road, said she entered the comp- etition after reading about it in The Journal earlier this year.

But Mrs Attwell and her husband Jeff forgot all about the competition afterwards, and so were shocked when they received a call to say that Poppy was a winner.

'We were very, very pleased,' said Mrs Attwell, who also has a son Bradley, age five, and four older children.

'I'm just really excited, and we think it's lovely.

'One of the paintings looks like the 100m dash, another looks like the swimming.'

Poppy has Down's syndrome and attends the Warren School and Fen Park Primary School.

Mrs Attwell said painting was something that Poppy concentrated on, and she enjoyed painting several pictures at a time.

'She has always enjoyed her painting. She has her own style, as you can see,' said Mrs Attwell.

As part of the prize, the family will be treated to an overnight stay in London, where they will go along to see the exhibition and enjoy the excitement of attending the awards ceremony.

Prizes for the 12 finalists also include a Butlins family break, a certificate and an art kit.

The overall winner for Best Toddler Art 2010 will also receive �500 and a trophy.

Mrs Attwell said that they kept all of Poppy's artwork. 'It's nice to look back on,' she explained.

Fabienne Nicholas, of the Contemporary Art Society, who helped judge the competition, said: 'Poppy was a great favourite of the judges.

'We adored her use of bold swathes of electrical colour on the blue background. And, when we realised the painting was about the Olympics, we felt that it really captured the excitement of the games.'

Richard Bates, managing director of Butlins, said the leisure company had always encouraged creativity in children through art and play at its resorts.

'But an exhibition of their work in east London, the home of contemporary art, is an amazing opportunity to showcase and celebrate Britain's talented tots,' he added.

If you're going to be in London and would like to see Poppy's work, it will be exhibited at Blackall Studios, 73 Leonard Street, Shoreditch, from October 26 to 29.