Renowned local artist Olwen Tarrant is to exhibit around 30 oil paintings at the Mall Galleries, London, from Wednesday, December 5 to Tuesday, December 18.

The special show features a wide range of works by Mrs Tarrant, from landscapes to the abstract, along with paintings by two other member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI).

Mrs Tarrant, from Upper Welland, is the first woman to be elected president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in its 115-year history.

The show will run alongside the ROI's annual exhibition, which is taking place at the same time at the gallery in The Mall, which is a short distance from Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace.

Betty Boothroyd, the former speaker of the House of Commons, is formally opening both shows on Tuesday, December 4, and a portrait of her will be on display in the gallery.

Another Malvern artist, Catherine Moody, president of the Malvern Art Club, will also be exhibiting a painting.

Originally from Newport, in South Wales, Mrs Tarrant moved to Upper Welland six years ago. Her studio looks on to the Malvern Hills, which have proved a great inspiration to her.

"After my husband retired we wondered where to move," she said. "We had always known the Malvern Hills and its wonderful landscape. Now I can see the hills from my house."

Mrs Tarrant also has a studio in the sunnier climes of Mallorca and many of her landscapes feature the mountains and countryside of the Mediterranean island.

"I love painting landscapes in the pretty Mallorcan villages," she said. "The fantastic light and the variety of colours are wonderful and it is so pleasant to be working on a canvas with the sun on your back."

With the inclement British weather she has, up to now, painted few landscapes of the Malvern area, preferring to concentrate on still life and work from the imagination.

"But recently I've started to paint local landscapes from the windows of my studio," she said.

Mrs Tarrant is currently working on a painting of the pond in Hanley Swan, which should feature in another ROI exhibition at Ledbury's Shell House Gallery, which starts on February 10.