BOVINGDON artist Mary Beard showed 23 of her pictures at St Lawrence Hall in her second ever public exhibition. By Saturday afternoon, most had been sold.

Mrs Beard overcame opening night nerves to put on the successful display in the church hall, Vicarage Road, Bovingdon.

She said: "When you put your stuff up on show, it's as though you are showing yourself, like your underwear is on view. It's very personal."

Mrs Beard, 59, worked as an NHS health visitor before retiring to follow her art more intensely five years ago.

"I love it, I love painting. It tends to get in your blood," she said.

Her work includes watercolours and pen and ink caricatures. And although there are some landscapes in her collection, she prefers people as a subject.

She said: "I focus on the other aspects, I like people and and how they fit into their surroundings."

A recent holiday to Scotland will provide the material for her next paintings, as a previous visit to Cyprus inspired a series of pictures in this collection.

June 10, 2002 17:30