AN exhibition of striking portrait paintings by a noted artist is on display at a Manningtree gallery.

North House Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings by Sara Lee Roberts.

The show displays her range of work from portraits to the pure abstract, as well as new and distinctive hybrids.

Sara said: “In my recent work, I move between figuration and abstraction, looking for the moment at which the sense of a place or of a person is expressed, regardless of degree of finish.

"Portraits of portraits are sometimes combined with abstract panels in a search for a combination which triggers quiet surprise.

"In the pure abstracts, colours - mostly blacks and reds - are allowed to react to one another until space and light is suggested.”

Sara Lee Roberts was born in 1956, daughter of the Euston Road artist RD 'Dick' Lee.

After achieving Foundation at the Byam Shaw School of Art and a BSc in Chemical Physics at Sussex University, she trained as a conservator at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge.

As a conservator she worked on paintings at the Wallace Collection and the Royal Collection.

On moving to Paris she decided to paint full time and made work which led to her first solo show.

She has exhibited widely, has won the Discerning Eye Prize and has paintings in public and private collections.

In 2008 she studied at the Royal Drawing School on The Drawing Year postgraduate programme, where she won the Paintings in Hospitals Prize.

She has taught adults on a one-to-one basis for many years and since 2013 has been teaching, painting and drawing at the Royal Drawing School.

For further information and images, please contact the gallery on 01206 392717.

The exhibition runs every Saturday from April 1 until April 29, from 10am-5pm.