COLOURFUL paintings of flowers created by a Bewdley artist will be on display at the town's library from Saturday.

Shelley Waring, of Woodthorpe Drive, will be exhibiting pictures created using watercolours, pastels, inks and oil paints.

The exhibition, titled "Still in Nature", will be on display for three weeks and is the first one she has held in the town.

Mrs Waring, who is a delicatessen assistant, said she began painting when she was at school.

Her technique is mostly self taught as her only training has been O-level art and an Open University course in watercolour painting she completed five years ago.

Mrs Waring has been a member of Kidderminster Art Society for four years and exhibited two paintings in the society's 75th anniversary exhibition at Kidderminster Library in December.

Her exhibition follows one she held in Alcester, Warwickshire last year and she said she was looking forward to it, adding: "It will be nice to show the people of Bewdley what I can do."

The 55-year-old will be displaying 25 paintings of floral scenes at her exhibition, adding: "I started off painting a lot of landscapes but I found painting flowers more my forte. I just love gardening so it just seems a natural thing to paint. "

She uses flowers in her own garden for inspiration as well as places she visits, including the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Mrs Waring is also a keen photographer and takes photographs of the plants, which she works from when she paints at home.

She said: "I might spend a week or a fortnight, depending on the size of a painting. I have got a few favourites. There's a big begonia and a big daffodil. The big flowers I do are nice. I love colour - the more colour I can get into a picture the better.

"I'd like to do it as a career but breaking into the market is quite difficult - but that is something for the future."

For opening times contact the library on 01299 203303. The exhibition runs until Saturday, February 25.