Amrik Varkalis is well known at Bradford College for her portraits of cleaners working there.
Now her work has been chosen from more than 700 submissions to go on show at a top national portrait exhibition.
Amrik, former head of art at Belle Vue Boys' School and now co-ordinator of creative art at Bradford College, was invited to send her CV to the London Gallery, Federation of British Artists - and now her work is about to go on show at the Mall Galleries in the capital.
Three portraits painted by Amrik, including one of her with her husband and two sons, are to be included in the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters next month.
The exhibition will be opened by Culture Minister Tessa Jowell.
Amrik, who has painted for most of her life, said she was delighted to have her work selected.
"As an Asian woman I feel very honoured," she said.
Amrik specialises in painting portraits and landscapes and says she usually paints people she works with, including teaching staff and cleaners at Bradford College.
She has had work exhibited in Bradford and Manchester but this will be the first time her portraits have gone on show in a London exhibition.
Her work will be shown alongside that of June Mendoza, who has painted film director Ken Loach and principal dancers with the English National Ballet, and the Society's president Andrew Festing who is displaying royal portraits.
"Throughout the years portraits have been regarded as great works of art. The advent of photography threatened portraiture but it adapted and survived," said a spokesman for the Mall Galleries.
"Yet what is the purpose of a portrait today? In an era where an empty room with a blinking light can win the Turner Prize, is there a place for portraiture?
"This show reflects the current state of the genre."
The exhibition will be officially opened by Tessa Jowell on April 30 and runs from May 2-18.
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