CALLING her exhibition Supercolour was no exaggeration for artist Linda Kent, who will unveil her latest bright abstract paintings to the public this month.

At 70, Linda has been painting since she can remember, and has brought her passion all around the globe with her.

From the concrete jungle of New York to the Alps of Switzerland and the seas of Cyprus, Linda has taken inspiration from the scenery in all the places she has lived, including her current home at the Burnlaw Centre, tucked away in the North Pennine hills.

“Painting for me is about how something feels, rather than how it appears on the surface,” she said.

“I am influenced by nature and the land, but not the superficial, I’m more interested in the human response to a landscape, and portraying that on the canvas. Often it won’t end up resembling a landscape as we know it.”

Paintings which will feature on show at Supercolour include those inspired by the strong winds Tynedale experienced in May, along with swirling blue seascapes.

She first began formally training in art in 1969, attending West of England College of Art in Bristol, before enrolling in a post-graduate course with Cyprus College of Art in Paphos in 1983, which was where she became influenced to begin exploring seascapes, inspired by the country’s glistening, yet sometimes dramatic waters.

“I have followed many different career paths all around the world, including teaching horseback riding and meditation, but I’ve always gone back to painting,” said Linda.

“There hasn’t been a time when it hasn’t played a huge role in my life.”

Linda doesn’t limit herself to the use of conventional tools such as paintbrushes. She also experiments with sticks, rags, pallet knives and most often, her own hands, to create her abstract works.

Painting is as much about the artistic process as it is about the finished result for Linda however.

It is the rhythm and movement of an artist’s brush strokes and use of colour which she feels is just as artistically captivating as the ideas behind the work.

Another important element in Linda’s art is how she combines physical movement with painting.

Collaborating with variety of dancers, visual artists and her husband Tim Rubidge, a choreographer, Linda responds in paint to the dancer’s movements, while they simultaneously take inspiration from her art in this improvised merge of the mediums.

“It is always a very inspiring experience,” she explained. “It works as a call-and-response between the actions and movements of painting and dance.”

Some of her dance-inspired pieces will also be on display in Supercolour.

Linda’s way of working has led her work to be in demand nationally – including exhibitions at Dance City in Newcastle, Theatre by the Lake in Kendal, Modern Artists Gallery in Oxfordshire and St Ives’s the Crypt Gallery.

Supercolour will be held at Burnlaw Centre, Whitfield between April 13 to April 14.