A talented OAP has spent 40 years hand-painting her own version of the Sistine chapel – in her council flat.
Diana Keys has coated her modest terraced home in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, with masterpieces inspired by the Italian Renaissance.
From stallions roaming the forest to cherubs floating in the heavens, the 70-year-old has covered magnolia walls with fairy-tale scenes – with her bare hands.
She said: ‘I want to share my work because I’m 70 and I have put a lot of work into it and I don’t know how much longer I will be alive.
Diana Keys has coated her home in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, with masterpieces inspired by the Italian Renaissance. The talented OAP has spent 40 years hand-painting her own version of the Sistine chapel
From stallions roaming the forest to cherubs floating in the heavens, the 70-year-old has covered magnolia walls with fairy-tale scenes – with her bare hands
Ms Keys said she wants to share the stunning work with the wider world because she is now aged 70 and does not know how much longer she will be alive
Two giant white stallions adorn the walls of the council property and they are joined by an angelic figure in a flowing blue dress. Ms Keys said there is some religious meaning behind the paintings
The astonishing work is hidden behind the walls of Ms Keys’ unassuming terraced house in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire
‘It’s taken me 40 years to do what I have done and the council will just cover it up when I go to heaven.
‘I just want to share some love and peace with the world.
‘It’s not finished but now I’m 70, I’ve stopped. If I kept going it would take me another 30 or 40 years to complete.’
Applying paint to her hands with Classical music playing in the background, Ms Keys has decorated four rooms from the ceiling to the floor with intricate designs inspired by heaven and mother nature.
She said: ‘There’s a story behind my painting. It’s really lots of little pieces that form one big picture all together.
‘There is some religious meaning, I am a very spiritual person.
‘I’ve never been to the Sistine Chapel but it amazes me.’
Like the masterpiece in Vatican City, Ms Keys’ work has covered the ceiling and walls with intricate designs inspired by heaven and wildlife.
Even the doors of the council flat have been decorated. In this room, a stag is pictured standing alongside a white pony
Ms Keys’ living room is decorated with a beautiful woodland scene. Her pink sofa sits in front of trees and grassland populated by several animals including a parrot, a dove and a deer
Ms Keys has even decorated the bathroom. A topless mermaid sits on the wall opposite the bath and toilet
Despite the fact Ms Keys has spent 40 years working on her labour of love, she claims it is still unfinished and would take another 40 years to complete
Applying paint to her hands with Classical music playing the background, Ms Keys has decorated four rooms from the ceiling to the floor with intricate designs inspired by heaven and mother nature
Ms Clarke said: ‘I just want to share some love and peace with the world. I am a very spiritual person’
Ms Keys began painting as a form of therapy and she says it helped her when she was suffering with mental health problems.
She said: ‘I had a lot of mental health issues and I spent a long time in hospitals and special care homes.
‘I have suffered and art helped me through it. I just wanted to bring a bit of love to the world through my paintings.
‘When one of the institutions I was in closed down they gave me a lot of paint and one of the local art shop gives me paints for my birthday and Christmas.’
Ms Keys is not the first person to be inspired by Michelangelo’s masterpiece.
Grandfather Robert Burns spent 12 years transforming his council house in Brighton, East Sussex, into a stunning replica of the Sistine Chapel.
A white horse is painted near to one of the light switches in the flat and another wall is adorned with what appear to be dolphins swimming in a circle
Ms Keys began painting as a form of therapy and she says it helped her when she was suffering with mental health problems
Included in the stunning paintings are animals such as horses, which were all painted using Ms Keys’ fingertips
Ms Keys said: ‘I have suffered and art helped me through it. I just wanted to bring a bit of love to the world through my paintings’