ARTIST Karen Richards has been whisked from her Warrnambool studio to London this week after winning an international art prize.Richards was invited to enter the Pfaff Art Embroidery Awards after organisers saw her work in textiles and fabric magazine Tafta.She said the invitation was an honour in itself, but the phone call to say she'd won the excellence award left her dumbfounded."I think I said, 'that's amazing' for about 10 minutes," she laughed."The woman on the phone was from France and her English was good but I kept thinking 'am I getting the wrong end of the stick here?'. The competition's theme this year was landscape, but rather than embroider a flat picture, Richards caught the judges' eyes with a sculpture."I'm not really into landscapes," she admitted. "But I guess it goes to show (it pays) to go in your own direction and produce the work you want."The winning piece Ruined Forest can be seen on her website www.karenrichards.net Ruined Forest will tour Europe when the awards display wraps up in London. Richards hopes to exhibit it in Australia next year. Some of Richards' work will be on display at Time & Tide Cafe Gallery in Port Fairy until November 15.