LONDON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Stella Vine, a painter by day and stripper by night, sold her first work -- a bloodied Princess Diana -- to wealthy British art patron Charles Saatchi.
Vine's painting will be the centerpiece of Saatchi's newest collection, titled "New Blood," opening March 20 at the Saatchi Gallery at County Hall in central London, the Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
Saatchi, a multi-millionaire with a penchant for bizarre artwork, has helped artists Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the Chapman brothers become household names. Saatchi paid $1,100 for Vine's painting.
Entitled "Hi Paul Can You Come Over," the oil painting was inspired by a letter recently made public by the former royal butler Paul Burrell, in which Princess Diana expressed her fears someone wanted to kill her, Vine said.
"It got me thinking of her sitting in Kensington Palace, pretty much alone, and phoning up Paul Burrell and really needing to talk to him," she said.
"This is a dark painting with a bit of violence because I was very affected by Diana's death," the 35-year-old artist said.
Vine, who ran away at 13 and became a mother at 17, said Saatchi's purchase came just in time.
"I was on the verge of giving up because I wasn't making any money," she said.
