Beloved South Shields artist Sheila Graber selling off life's work in aid of charities - here's how you can buy your own piece of history

Sheila Graber’s outstanding creations will be known to millions of people as she has animated some of the best known’ programmes around.

She also won the Lifetime Achievement category at the Best of South Tyneside Awards last month after an illustrious career which has seen her create the animation for Paddington and Mr and Mrs Brown.

The South Shields artist also produced more than 100 films from her home-based studio.

And if that’s not enough, her work on Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories was distributed across the world in the 1980s.

Now Sheila has decided it is time to pass on her work to the public ‘to give something back’ after winning the awards.

The sale, titled 18 to 81, has been launched before Sheila reached 82 this weekend and she told the Gazette: “I have deliberately kept the prices on my originals very low ranging from £200 to £50 as I really would like raise funds for Sea Change, Willows Cat Adoption Centre and our Customs House.

"The instant something is sold it will be replaced by new work - and at the moment I have plenty of it as my plan is to sell off my life’s work from the age of 18 to 81 with all profits in aid of these charities.”

The number of art pieces runs into ‘hundreds if not thousands’ said Sheila. More than 200 of them can currently be viewed by clicking here.

She has already raised more than £10,000 which has been shared between The Customs House and Willows.

Her aim is to raise much more by continuing to sell her life’s work of drawing, paintings and cels from animated films from the age of 18 to 81.

Sheila, born in South Shields in 1940, trained in Fine Art and Education and began animating “just for fun” in 1970.

Ten years later, the hobby turned into profession. She gave up her post as Head of Creative Studies at a comprehensive school to pursue animation full time.

To view Sheila's work which is for sale, visit https://www.sheilagraberanimation.com/SHEILASHOW/index.html