"If you love what you do, you just do it."

So says current Masterworks' artist-in-residence Daphne Stephenson of her fulfilling life. She might also have added "with passion", for it takes but little time in her company to realise that whatever she cares deeply about — be it art, teaching children, the welfare of living creatures, or planet Earth — is approached with complete dedication and passion.

In fact, while Mrs. Stephenson has always understood the importance and value of art in everyone's life, it is only in recent years that she has become a full-time artist. Prior to that, she was an art teacher.

"For many, many years I wanted to give all my talents and gifts to children," she says. "I love children, and I thought that if I could give them everything I knew, then one day it would come back to me, so I taught in various primary and secondary schools for 17 years. I set up and headed up three art departments, and I specialised in art scholarships, which were a big thing with me. I loved to change the most discouraged pupil, who thought they couldn't draw or paint, into a totally confident and budding artist."

Due to the increasing demand for commissions of her primitive naive work by client Debby Brice, whose Nassau, Bahamas home now holds the largest collection of her work, Mrs. Stephenson gave up teaching. That choice ultimately led to the submission to London's Royal Academy of Art of a huge canvas depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden "before the fall — without shame".

"Every single Adam and Eve has always been after the fall, with a snake," the artist says. "My painting was chosen for exhibition, and they sold postcards of it for several years. Now, a film is going to come out in a year or two called 'The Triangle', based on the book, 'The Garden of Eden' by Ernest Hemingway, for which I have been asked to design the poster, based on my painting, so I am really excited about that because it is a big, big project."

Despite modestly describing herself as "an up-and-coming artist with a long way to go", it is clear that Mrs. Stephenson is regarded as a significant figure in the art and design world, with British and international exhibitions to her credit. In fact, it was a promotional DVD relating to her solo exhibition in a Chelsea, London gallery which led to the invitation from Tom Butterfield (Masterworks Foundation director) and Elise Outerbridge (collections manager) to spend two months in Bermuda as the artist-in-residence — an experience the praises of which Mrs. Stephenson cannot sing too highly.

"The reason why I am so excited about Masterworks is that all of their colours and their style make me feel that I fit with them like a hand in a glove. I so love what they do. They are so fair, and give everybody a chance, not just the big people, but also the newcomers," she says.

"I was reading something in an old Bermuda history book about why Butterfield Bank is so successful, and I thought, 'It runs in the Butterfields — the totally professional quality'. They are full of dignity, integrity, honesty and courtesy, and I thought that was so much of the reason why the bank became so successful too.

"They looked after their community and their people, and I see the same thing happening through Tom and Masterworks. I am bowled over by them. They work hard and play hard. I work hard and play hard. Nothing is impossible for them, and nothing is impossible for me. Sometimes you just have to push through the face of adversity with everything going against you."

If Mrs. Stephenson has experienced adversity, there is no hint of it in her Bermuda work, which is imaginative, colourful, and really quite magical.

Eschewing the typical 'Bermuda essence' of blue waters and pink cottages so beloved of many artists, she has created a body of work which is very much her own. It includes 'wall jewellery' featuring trinkets from here and the UK and a mirror-lined box to which are affixed miniature dining chairs, each of which is decorated as an interpretation of the eight people she would like to have as dinner guests: Tina Turner, Tom Butterfield, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Prince Charles, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, actor James McAvoy; the late Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi; former 'Flair' magazine editor Fleur Cowles.

There is also a whimsical composite painting of Bermuda which includes churches, white-roofed houses, people and vegetation on and around a conical gold mound surrounded by sea.

In quite a different vein is her traditional "signature painting" of a 'colonial leopard', which the artist says is "basically about the only thing I reproduce in different versions. It has been my best seller".

In addition to preparing for her first solo exhibition here, Mrs. Stephenson has also been delighted to again indulge her love of teaching children art through a series of Masterworks workshops at Saltus Grammar School, whose students she describes as "just fabulous".

"In 100 years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in my bank account, nor what my clothes looked like, but that the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of one child," she says.

At home, she teaches art therapy classes.

Being here for two months has given Mrs. Stephenson a deeper perspective of the Island than would be gained by the fleeting visitor. Brought up in Karachi, Pakistan, she has also lived in Lisbon, Portugal; Holland; Vienna, Austria; and travelling extensively in Africa and India. Everywhere she goes, she makes it a point to know and appreciate the people and their culture.

"In Africa and India, I have such an affinity for people that I don't notice colour. I go for their character and integrity," she says.

While so much has delighted her here, Mrs. Stephenson confesses some things have shocked and disturbed her.

Describing Bermuda as "a totally blessed land", she says: "It is God all over these islands, from the water, to the sunshine, to the order, to the employment — 98 percent employment is fantastic. (Yet) the churches are full of black people. I am shocked by how few white people are in the churches. People need to be thanking God for this incredible Island. I understand the difference in culture, and I love the black culture — their spirit and their dance, and I think people should be integrated. It is a fantastic Island. I have been to many places, but this is a place beyond belief."

Asked to define what art means to her, Mrs. Stephenson responds: "I feel it is therapeutic, soothing, and healing to the soul. For me, painting is like swimming into another world where all the colours begin to flow, and all the pressures of the world leave me. A French artist once said: ' 'Is' is my guarantee of sanity', which is absolutely true for me."

Of the body of work forming her solo exhibition which opens tomorrow evening in the Rose Garden Gallery at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, the artist-in-residence says: "It is all inspired by Bermuda. This is what comes of being on an amazing Island", and she feels that it fits well with the Masterworks philosophy.

"Masterworks is so imaginative. They like art with a difference, and they want to see new and exciting things. To me art has to be theatrical. I hope my art entertains — like Masterworks."

• Recent work by Daphne Stephenson continues through November 20. For further information see the Bermuda Calendar.