EIGHT colourful paintings now brighten up a stairwell at Wessex genetics laboratory in Salisbury District Hospital.

The artist is 14-year-old Hannah Fisher, who lives in Salisbury and is a pupil at South Wilts Grammar School in the city.

Hannah had previously exhibited a painting as part of ArtCare's open exhibition at the hospital and Professor Patricia Jacobs, of Wessex genetics laboratory, so liked her work that she commissioned a further eight from Hannah specifically for the laboratory.

Hannah's pictures are all based on the double-helix structure of the genetic material DNA, and so are totally appropriate for their new home.

She has proved that a scientific theme does not have to be dull because her paintings explode in bursts of colour, transforming the stairwell to the scientists' loft microscope room.

Prof Jacobs said: "We are thrilled with Hannah's pictures, which give pleasure to all who see them. We are also amazed that a 14-year-old has carried out our commission in exactly the way we wanted."

Peter Ursem, manager of the ArtCare project said: "We use art in this hospital to create a more friendly and uplifting atmosphere, and Hannah's pictures do exactly that.

"More than that, the people in the genetics department rightly recognise the relationship between medicine and art.

"Artists and scientists are both driven by a curiosity to discover the nature of things, and Hannah's work is a brilliant and colourful example of that."