ONE of Lyme’s best-known artists – Christine Allison, is returning to the Town Mill’s Malthouse Gallery for a solo exhibition that brings together for the first time her awe-inspiring paintings of birds of prey, fish and other large-as-life animals.

Raw Energy goes on display today and will run until November 2.

Christine’s passion for painting birds of prey began after a visit to Hampshire’s New Forest Falconry in 2010. She began drawing and painting eagles, owls, hawks and falcons and three years later, had the first of several exhibitions in the UAE, where a number of her paintings now grace the walls of royal palaces.

Christina said: “Curiously, although my work depicts birds, animals and fish, I don’t consider myself a wildlife artist. I haven’t kept many animals in my life and yet I am deeply moved when in the presence of an eagle, an owl, a falcon or a hawk.

“I’m intrigued by their awesome presence and their energy – they seem to touch something deep inside me, something raw and emotional.”

The impetus for the largest piece of work on show was even more dramatic.

Christina said: “When the Emperor stag was shot on Exmoor in 2010 that same raw part of me was touched. So I painted him in all his glory, with his 14 point antlers and nine-foot stature: a testament to nature at its most magnificent.

She added: “I have no desire to make pictures with every feather or hair exquisitely in place; I want to add something more – a glorification, a sense of power and energy that is felt within the work and emanates from it.

“My challenge is how to use my tools and skills to say something more about my subject. These creatures have helped me to hone my senses, to feel the pulse of my subject and then somehow capture their essence and portray it on canvas.”

Christine trained at Saint Martin’s School of Art, the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture and Exeter University. After a career as a graphic designer in London, she moved to Lyme Regis in 1980 and became a teacher of art at Holyrood School in Chard and then head of art at Colyton Grammar School.

In 2001 she became a full-time artist painting seascapes and figurative work, which have been exhibited in London and the West Country.

For 11 years, Christine co-organised Lyme Regis ArtsFest, and led various art courses and mentored numerous artists locally. She works regularly with The Fossil Festival and has also worked with the Jurassic Coast Team and The Natural History Museum in London using Lyme Regis blue lias clay to make large public drawings of fossils.

n Raw Energy, from 10am until 5pm at the Town Mill Galleries in Lyme Regis until November 2.