Sidmouth’s Gallery to stage first solo exhibition by Ottery St Mary artist Jacqueline

SINCE playing by the sea in her native Cornwall, Jacqueline Steel has drawn inspiration for her art from the beautiful coastlines and countryside of the South West.

Now Jacqueline, who has lived and worked in East Devon since the late 1970s, launches her d�but solo exhibition of drawings and paintings, in pencil and oils, of sea and landscapes as well as finely detailed animal portraits, in Sidmouth next weekend.

Jacqueline, lives in Ottery St Mary and is married to Keith, a civil engineer. They have two sons. She has struggled to balance her family and a full-time career with her passion to paint and draw the natural world in a vibrant and realistic style that has a respectful reference to the impressionist school.

For many years, she worked for East Devon District Council and local schools and had rarely touched art for 10 years, until April 2010, when she joined The King’s School, Ottery St Mary.

Art teaching staff there talked her into taking her A Level Art and since then she has not stopped painting.

Her exhibition will be held at the Gallery, Old Fore Street, Sidmouth, (opposite Sidmouth Art Supplies) from Saturday, August 20 to Friday, August 26, from 11am to 5pm.