Jennifer Trouton is reportedly “thrilled” with the shout-out she received in the massively popular “50 Shades of Grey” trilogy, penned by EL James. Trouton’s painting, 'Looking At the Overlooked' is discussed by the two main characters in the book's opening chapter.

The Irish Independent reports on the friendship that helped bring Trouton’s work into the hands of millions more people worldwide. “50 Shades of Grey” has eclipsed other literary juggernauts “Harry Potter” and “The Da Vinci Code” as becoming the fastest selling book worldwide ever.

Trouton, a native of Portadown in Co Down, is friends with author E.L. James,real name Ericka Mitchell, for around 13 years now after the two met while Mitchell was living in Ireland.

"Erika is a supporter of my work, and it was incredibly kind of her to use my piece in her book," said Trouton.

“This is a huge thrill and a kick. The more I think about it, the more I go 'wow'. I've had more hits on my website and more people looking at my page on Facebook," Trouton told The Diary.

Author Mitchell first saw Trouton’s painting ‘Looking at the Overlooked’ at an exhibition in London in 2006. "The idea of the painting is the ordinary elevated to the extraordinary which is almost a metaphor for the relationship between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in the book," said Trouton.

Although the painting is written as being on display at millionaire Christian Grey’s Seattle office in the first book of the ‘50 Shades of Grey’ trilogy, the original painting is still in the possession of Jennifer Trouton. She isn’t sure if the art work's inclusion in the book would affect its selling price should she put it to auction.

"I still own the painting and I have never looked at this as my opportunity to make money,” said Trouton. “This is Erika's book but it's quite surreal seeing so many people reading it and having this connection. It's quite a thing to drop into conversation.”