Artist Debbie Baxter set herself a target of producing a painting a day during lockdown - and she has turned that to good use by donating eight to support the lifesaving work of the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) in an online auction.

Debbie has painted all her life and specialising in drawing and painting trees. She is a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society and has exhibited her work all over the country - but the coronavirus pandemic meant the cancellation of much of her planned work.

Debbie says: “I’ve been doing a lot of teaching and had to stop that, I had a lot of exhibitions planned and then everything flatlined. It brought me back to the main thing that I do - I paint. And I thought: ‘Why not do it every day?’

“I decided I would set myself the target of a painting every day in lockdown. I filmed the process so you can see how each painting has been created and I posted them on my Facebook page.

“I then had a lot of paintings that I wanted to donate to a charity. Living in Suffolk I recognised the vital part EAAA plays across our four counties in East Anglia. I belong to the EAAA’s lottery fund and I got a letter which had an urgent plea to raise funds for personal protective equipment for frontline staff.

“I spoke to Stuart Wyle at EAAA and he said: ‘Let’s go for it’ and the auction was held on their Facebook page.”

Debbie lives on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border and the inspiration for her daily painting has come from nature - carpets of bluebells, delicate magnolias, silver birch, spring blossom and tulips.

Debbie says: “The East Anglian Air Ambulance is doing a frontline service right now and, as a charity, is completely reliant on outside support. What they do for the NHS and saving lives is second to none. I can’t do much to help in this epidemic but I can help those who can.”

The eight paintings were auctioned on EAAA’s Facebook page and raised a total of £460.

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Stuart Wyle, head of community fundraising at EAAA, said: “Debbie Baxter’s paintings are absolutely beautiful and we were delighted to hear from her when she offered to donate some of them to help us raise funds for our PPE appeal, to help protect our crew from coronavirus.

“This has been a really lovely and unique way to raise funds for our lifesaving charity and we’re pleased to say we had a lot of interest in the paintings, with one selling for £80. In total, the virtual art auction has raised £460 for EAAA, which is fantastic.

“I hope everyone who successfully bid on a painting will really enjoy it and would like to say a massive thank you to Debbie for her support.”

See more of Debbie’s artwork at artdkbaxter.com. To make a donation to EAAA, visit eaaa.org.uk.