Is Corrie's Deirdre the new Dali? Actress Anne Kirkbride shows off her hidden art talent

 Coronation Street actress Anne Kirkbride has unveiled her hidden talents as an artist.
The soap star, who plays chain-smoking Deirdre Barlow in the hit show, appears to have inherited an artistic talent from her late father Jack Kirkbride, who was a cartoonist for the Oldham Evening Chronicle.
After encouragement from friends and family, the 54-year-old has decided to display 13 of her creations for the first time in a Manchester art gallery.

Art attack: Anne Kirkbride with two of her creations Alpujarra 1 and Alpujarra 2 at the Feel Creative Gallery in Manchester

Her work has gone on show at the Feel Creative Gallery in the coincidentally named Barlow Court Road in Didsbury.
The collection is up for sale and ranges between £100 to £275 each.
The paintings have been inspired by scenes near Kirkbride's holiday home in southern Spain.
Two painting are stunning depictions of leaf-less trees in La Albujarra, a mountainous district in Spain.

My creation: Kirkbride and her 'Jacob's Ladder' painting, depicting the rambling steps near her Spanish holiday home

The actress has already sold two pieces to co-star Maggie Jones, who plays her on-screen mother Blanche Hunt.


Kirkbride enthuses: 'It's my first ever art exhibition and I'm so excited.
'I've always thought no one would want to buy them, but I've sort of been convinced to give it a go - I'm still not sure anyone will want to buy them, but they do look lovely.
'Maggie has already bought two. She's got them up in her dressing room at Corrie. She says she loves to look at them.'

Spanish life: One of the paintings shows a young boy playing on the streets of a hillside town

Kirkbride only started painting five years after decades of focusing her talents on acting.
She said: 'My whole family are artistic, and of course my dad was a cartoonist all his life. But I always thought in my case that artistic side came out in the acting.
'I don't think I realised how much I wanted to do this until I was asked about doing an exhibition. It's almost a need that was there and now I've found it, it's so exciting.'
The exhibition runs until the end of this month, before transferring to the History Cafe in Deansgate in December.

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Creative: Kirkbride depicts sunbathers worshipping the Spanish sun

Rambling: Kirkbride's painting Jacob's Ladder is of an old set of steps near her holiday home