SUSAN Gunn firmly believes that artists pour into their work their experiences from life, the good and the bad.

She knows this as Susan is a nationally-acclaimed artist whose predominantly large paintings grace several important buildings. And some of those life experiences which have influenced her work took place around Westhoughton where she grew up and lived until her early 20s.

“My grandfather and uncles were miners and I remember my grandmother telling me about how they had to bathe in a tin bath one after the other to get the grime off. Pity the poor person who was last!” she recalled as we chatted during one of her frequent visits back.

Susan’s own story is unusual because it shatters many misconceptions about stereotypes and is ultimately about triumph over personal tragedy.

With two much older brothers, she was an “afterthought.” She went to St Bartholomew’s Primary School and teacher, Mrs Cunliffe, spotted her artistic talent and told her mother that Susan had “a special gift.”

Susan just accepted this assessment and continued enjoyably drawing life around her. Her mother was also a talented seamstress and taught her practical skills. She attended Westhoughton High School and took a foundation course at Bolton Art College with a university degree in fine arts in mind. Her father, though, was unconvinced that art provided a good career choice for his daughter, so she didn’t go.

Susan was a pretty girl and her mother encouraged her to enter beauty contests. She was successful both as a beauty queen and a model but her career path changed when her godmother, Auntie Cilla, died and left Susan an unexpected legacy.

With it she opened her own bridal shop in Bold Street in the town centre, copying Vogue patterns and creating new fashion ideas. She was 19 and determined to succeed. “I remember when Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew, I sat up all night making a copy of her dress to put into the window the next day,” she said.

The shop prospered and she took on three staff and two machinists. Her life, though, altered irrevocably when she was 23. She took a last-minute holiday to Spain with some friends and met Bryan Gunn. He told her he was a joiner but later admitted that he was actually a professional footballer and first team goalkeeper for then Premiership side Norwich City and also for Scotland. Within just a few days, he had proposed and Susan – quite against her normal cautious nature – accepted. She came home, sold the bridal shop and a year later the couple married and she moved to Norwich.

The couple had a beautiful baby daughter, Francesca. Tragically, the little girl was diagnosed with leukaemia and, in spite of intensive treatment over many months, she died aged two and a half. Devastated, they threw themselves into fundraising in Francesca’s memory, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for research. Along the way, they gained a raft of awards and much genuine admiration. By then, Susan had given birth to their second daughter, Melissa, followed five years later by son Angus.

In the many sad hours spent in the hospital during Francesca’s treatment, however, Susan had started sketching again. And when she was 35, she decided to finally achieve that art education and enrolled at Norwich University of the Arts.

She loved her studies and gained a first-class degree, at the same time, beating more than 300 European artists to take the inaugural Sovereign Art Prize. She not only won £17,000 but had her work displayed at Bonham’s famous London auction house and kickstarted her career. Fascinated by textures, especially by earth elements like – ironically – coal, she began working in gesso, the traditional natural mix favoured by the Old Masters. “I loved the way it cracked and I’ve always loved using that ‘imperfection’ in my work,” she explained.

Her paintings – often large pieces – earned her an important commission with the Enterprise Centre in Norwich and today her work has featured in exhibitions in this country and as far afield as China.

In 2012, with her daughter at the University of Manchester and son Angus a talented young goalkeeper with Manchester City, the family moved back to the north-west. Susan now has a studio in Manchester city centre, where she “just loves the vibrancy”. She is grateful for her Bolton upbringing, “for the family and friends, the history, for everything that happened to me.. I couldn’t be the artist I am. They made me.”