I am a professional artist and illustrator living and working in South Oxfordshire. I have always been inspired by the local area and participated in many local community projects. The latest ones are creating illustrated maps to go on outdoor display in Steventon and Sutton Courtenay, and designing a book of words and pictures with children from Hagbourne Primary school as part of The Poets’ Trail Project.

Also I paint private commissions, often commemorative paintings to mark special birthdays, anniversaries or life events. People ask for their house, garden, pets, children, holiday destinations, favourite places, etc. These can all be cunningly combined to give the recipient a few surprises.

My work has been published in books, on greetings cards, in calendars and more recently as jigsaws.

I was trained at art college in Dundee, Scotland, and over the years have shown work in galleries and exhibitions, from the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and The Society of Botanical Artists to local pubs and cafes.

Drawing and painting and my family has been my life. When I was a child, my big brother taught me how to draw stick people and perhaps that set my career in motion!

Linda Benton’s Artweeks’ Exhibition at Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot for the month of May.

Didcot’s Oaks (and other notable trees)

It’s been wonderful to have the opportunity to illustrate an anthology of poetry on the theme of Didcot’s Oaks, not to mention the other notable trees. The words and trees have inspired me, and I’ve had the freedom to work in different media and sizes.

The book is sponsored by the Poets’ Trail project which is funded by a legacy kindly left by East Hagbourne poet,Roger Phipps, and it will be launched at the beginning of Artweeks.

It feels very timely to highlight our mature trees, because there are large new housing developments under construction around Didcot and care needs to be taken to protect and respect the trees. The Didcot area is renowned for the number of magnificent mature oaks that have survived.

The illustrations are a mixture of representative portraits of trees and more imaginative interpretations suggested by the words.The poems have been written by local people, some serious writers and some just moved to have a go. Roger was a great one for encouraging people to be confident enough to try putting pen to paper.

Most of my work is fairly detailed. I use watercolour, ink line, pencil and oil paint. I enjoy including little surprises … a snail, a bird, a butterfly … that you may not see at first glance. Local trees have been endlessly inspiring in all seasons of the year. This area has always offered me plenty of subject matter for my artwork.

Over the years The Poets’ Trail has produced a number of illustrated anthologies, so in the exhibition there are also pictures from The Four Seasons and Green Theme.