LIGHT and colour from the Dordogne, animals beloved of their owners and expert examinations of flowers will rub shoulders when three Malvern artists mount a five-day exhibition at the Old Mayor's Parlour in Hereford.

Annette Payne, Beth Barnes and Wendy Townsend specialise in animal portraits, naturalistic flower paintings and landscapes respectively.

They are staging a five-day show starting on Monday, August 12.

Ms Payne, who recently had a painting of a stallion accepted for inclusion in the Society of Equestrian Artists exhibition at Christie's in London, enjoys creating permanent mementoes of pets and treasured companions through her work. Some of the more unusual requests she has received have required her to capture an entire flock of chickens, a cockatiel and a Vietna-mese pot-bellied pig.

Her colleague Beth Barnes studied flora in Cape Town in South Africa as well as at Royal Kew Gardens, and won a Royal Horticultural Society silver medal in November last year. She also turns her brush to nudes and portraits, some of which will also be on display.

Ms Townsend will be showing chateaux, street markets and country scenes captured during a recent painting holiday in the Dordogne, as well as a range of still life paintings, including a series of china teacups.