ARTIST Shelagh Popham's affinity with animals comes through in two ways.

She works part-time in a vet's surgery and her oils and engravings show hares, owls, gannets and foxes in surprising situations.

Sometimes these are amusing as well as strangely disturbing.

She has regularly taken part in shows at Ludlow's Silk Top Hat Gallery but Hebrides, Antipodes and Other Small Adventures is her first solo exhibition in two years.

"I paint what I see, what I enjoy and what I remember," she explained, describing her latest work as "a public reflection of private rejoicings, anticipations, arrivals and unexpected incidents."

That means: "In the space of a journey, a downward Welsh nuthatch is replaced with an upward cockatoo down-under, hot air balloons reduce and multiply into birthday balloons and mountains in a sea of fields become ocean-washed islands."

Prices range from £45 for some charming wood engravings to £495 for Ghost, a stunning pencil drawing of an owl.

Her exhibition is open daily until October 23.