An artist is delighted to discover the whereabouts of a painting she did of Weymouth beach more than 46 years ago.

Doreen Fletcher has discovered the colourful scene of a lone Punch and Judy booth on Weymouth beach - the first she ever sold - has pride of place on the wall of a home in Canada.

Dorset Echo: The painting of Weymouth beach, currently in Toronto. Picture: Doreen Fletcher

London artist Doreen painted the Punch and Judy booth on Weymouth beach during a week-long visit to the resort in the summer of 1975.

Doreen said: "One evening wandering along the beach, I caught sight of the Punch and Judy man closing up for the night and it struck me a rather lonely poignant image."

The sight inspired Doreen to paint the colourful scene of the Punch and Judy booth at the end of a busy beach day.

The painting was sold to a film and TV teacher from the USA who was in the UK on the Fulbright teaching exchange scheme.

He bought the painting for £50 at an exhibition in Croydon and took it back home to Boston, USA in the autumn of 1975.

After selling the painting Doreen did not see or hear any record of it for 46 years until now.

She said: "It was the first painting I had ever sold and I was very excited by the possibility that maybe one day, I could actually earn a living from doing what I love best.

"In those days I never thought to take a photograph of the work or contact details of the purchaser."

Now 46 years after Doreen thought she would never see the painting again, the buyer from the US wrote a message to her through a website.

The painting of Weymouth beach now has pride of place on a wall in Toronto, Canada.

The buyer told Doreen: "The work has since graced a sequence of residences on both coasts of the US and Canada to the recurring fascination of visitors viewing it.

"When one of them enquired a week ago about the ‘artist’, we decided for the first time to ‘seek you out’ on the internet and, low and behold, there you were - your career, to my delight, having amply fulfilled the ‘promise’ of the painting hanging on the wall."

Doreen was delighted to hear of the whereabouts of the painting.

She said: "When I published news of locating the painting on both my Twitter and Instagram accounts, I just titled it ‘Punch & Judy Show’. To my surprise, I received several enquiries asking whether it was a painting of Weymouth! I still have no idea why. There are no landmark indicators to show which beach it is."