Artist Bonny Cummins has captured the collapsed West Pier on canvas.

In the hours after parts of the structure slipped sadly beneath the waves, Bonny was on the beach with her easel to document its perilous state for posterity.

Bonny, who has lived in Brighton for 20 years, used swirls of dramatic colour to convey the drama of the grand old lady's demise.

At the same time, the mother-of-one who lives in Preston Park, Brighton, handed out leaflets from the West Pier Trust to provide those who gathered to pay their respects information about the pier's past and possible future.

Bonny, who has a 12-year-old son Josh, is an established artist. She set up her first studio opposite the pier.

Her love of it has won her national acclaim - and a year's free meals from a seafront restaurant.

She said: "I moved to Brighton in 1982 and I was inspired by the beauty of the West Pier. It has a soulful quality and the extraordinary light silvers the buildings."

Bonny, who has been painting for 25 years and runs arts workshops for children, said: "In January, in snow and frost, the pier would twinkle like a frosted wedding cake.

"The light is amazing at this end of the beach.

"The weather seems to act as dramatic foil to a pier that must be saved. It's the perfect location for the stunning pier."

In December, just before the collapse of the pier's concert hall, her work reproducing images of the structure and the city's landmark Royal Pavilion really took off.

She walked into Athena in the Churchill Square shopping centre looking for a frame for one of her works.

When she showed staff her canvas, they told her to telephone their head office immediately to discuss displaying and selling her pictures.

Borders book shop followed suit, as have the Royal Pavilion shop and the Art Republic in Bond Street, while one trip along the seafront proved extremely fruitful.

She said: "In May, I wandered into Al Frescos with a painting of West Pier and they offered me a year's meals in return."

Bonny is so confident the pier will be restored to its glory she is working on an image of the structure in its restored state.

She hopes to find windows from local shops to display her works to capture the attention of visitors.