A passion for birds and roses is the inspiration for a new exhibition, "Birds and Botanicals" which opens at the Masterworks Gallery tonight.

The show will feature works completed over the past year by Bermuda College lecturer Louisa Flannery. She received her BA and her MA at the Rhode Island School of Design and has since taught art at every age level and in a variety of settings.

Mrs. Flannery has participated in group exhibitions Island wide and has been included in the Bacardi Limited Biennial for three consecutive years. This is her forth solo exhibition and she said her inspiration has come from two things.

"The work is inspired by roses and flowers found in my garden," she said. "Along with a continuing obsession with birds. The themes are derived from a continuing fascination with the aviary world and new interest in botanicals with a focus on personal experience."

Her chosen medium is charcoal and ink on paper or canvas.

"I find charcoal a very intuitive medium that reacts to subtle movements of your hand and produces fantastic marks.

"I've just started to introduce colour into my work using coloured inks and acrylic paint.

"The artwork, which has been created in the past year, explores colour, mark making and the inherent properties of medium."

Being a College lecturer and having a family means that she has to organise the time she spends painting in her garage.

"I do a lot of artwork at night after my two-year-old son is asleep," she said.

"I cannot work in colour at night so I do most of the colour work on the weekends if I can convince my husband to take my son. But this artwork would not exist if it was not for my husband."

When asked how this show differs from her previous shows, she said: "I have introduced colour into my drawing and begun to work on canvas as well as paper."

Birds and Botanicals opens at 5.30 p.m.