ARTISTIC friends who first met when their children went to the same toddler group are sharing an exhibition in Barnard Castle this month.
Oil and Light features the work of painter Tonya Mitchell, from West Auckland, and photographer Elaine Vizor, from Spring Gardens.
While both have featured in separate group exhibitions at The Witham before, it is the first time they have shown together.
Ms Mitchell said the landscapes of Teesdale and Northumberland were not only places she feels most at home, but the places that inspire her.
“I have always loved art – the creativity and making something from nothing,” said Ms Mitchell, a former teacher.
“I love to see a black canvas turn into something.”
The exhibition will also feature cushions produced by Ms Mitchell after she received a grant to develop something new.
Oil and Light is on show at The Witham and runs until November 26 after which she plans to produce new paintings.
“I would love to be prolific, but I am not as prolific as I would like to be,” she said.
“I want to get away and create a who lot of new work.”
As well as practising documentary photography, Ms Vizor also embraces the cameraless cyanotype process to produce traditional blue and white images.
A former teacher and social worker, she said photography had been a passion since she was a teenager.
“I’ve got cameras going back to a box brownie,” she said.
After work and family commitments, Ms Vizor returned to photography in 2008.
“If I did not do something about it then, it would never have happened,” she said.
Admission to the exhibition is free during centre opening times at The Witham.
