MARGARET Riordan is a self-taught artist from the south west.

She currently has two exhibitions, one in Burnham and the other in Weston.

Margaret has been painting and drawing all her life and won numerous competitions at local and national level. Over 300 of her works have been sold throughout the UK, Europe and North America at exhibitions, in galleries and occasionally on ebay.

"I enjoy painting in all mediums and particularly love the human form," explains Margaret.

"I love to paint people, and will often get pleasure from just doodling a sketch of someone at a railway station. I like doing portraits, and I love capturing the movement of people dancing, playing sport."

Margaret gets her inspiration from artists such as Jack Vettriano and David Downton, the fashion illustrator. Her other great passion is painting horses.

"I like buildings, scenes, trains, boats, planes. If it's there, I want to paint it," she adds.

"I was a secretary by profession but I have always loved to paint as a pastime. Arthritis unfortunately prevents me from painting as a profession, so my paintings will not flood the market and any painting you purchase from me hopefully will be valuable by its rarity."

You can view Margaret's varied work at the Princess Theatre in Burnham. The exhibition runs Tuesday to Saturday (10am-3pm) from August 11 through to August 29.

She also has paintings on display at Hadleys Bistro, 1 Boulevard in Weston.