FOR many people the word "pastel" conjures up an image of something pale, even wishy-washy; something more suited to sensible cardigans than great art.

But for Willersey-based artist Moira Huntly, pastel is among the most vibrant, brightly-coloured and dramatic media in which a painter can work.

Moira, a bright and vibrant 71-year-old herself, has just been elected the first woman president of the Pastel Society in its 106-year history.

"I took up pastel painting by accident really," says Moira, who studied art at Harrow School of Art and Hornsey College of Art.

"My father-in-law was a professional artist and when he decided to take early retirement he gave me his box of pastels and I tried them out. Up to then I had been more of a watercolour and oils painter," she adds.

However, for Moira, who is currently exhibiting five works in the Pastel Society's 105th annual exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London, it is the message not the medium that really counts.

"I think it's the subject matter that interests me most," she says.

The subjects for many of Moira's works are a world away from the pretty, picture-postcard scenes that surround her home in Collin Close, Willersey, or her studio at Alderton, near Winchcombe.

Among her most popular works are landscapes of marine subjects and industrial buildings.

"I used to enjoy dockyards, harbours and coal mines," she says. "Pastel can be very powerful and very mysterious."

The power of the medium can be seen in the current exhibition, which includes a wide range of work by many of the Pastel Society's 60 members, including a striking portrait by the society's new vice-president Victor Ambrus, who is well-known for his role as resident artist on Channel 4's archaeology programme Time Team.

After art school Moira taught art for a couple of years at the secondary school in Blackminster. She and her husband Ian moved to Willersey in 1962 to be nearer his work.

As well as being the new president of the Pastel Society she is a Royal West of England Academician, a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists.

She has also been appointed a governor of the Federation of British Artists and is also the author of several books on drawing and painting.

As Pastel Society president, Moira aims to raise the profile of the medium, which she admits has had its "ups and downs".

"It had a heyday in the 1700s, then again with the Impressionists. It was in the doldrums in the 1950s and 1960s but now it is really vibrant and a huge variety of work is being done in the medium. It's on the up again," says Moira, clearly relishing the prospect of being at the helm of one of the leading art organisations for the next five years.

The Pastel Society's 105th annual exhibition is on at The Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, until Sunday.

There is a chance to see Moira's work at the Spring into Life exhibition at the Manor House Gallery, West Street, Chipping Norton until March 21.