"The Black Mountains are not black" is a new exhibition by Janet Chaplin, a former art teacher at Monmouth Comprehensive School.

Living in Abergavenny she is fascinated with the ever-changing colours, textures and moods capturing them with her unique view.

She will often sketch very detailed pencil drawings, in-situ, to capture the profile and record the paths and distant sheep trails, then back in the studio the paintings emerge into a rich tapestry of colour, marks and textures using a range of media from iridescence and florescent inks to resin and raw pigments, oil to water-soluble crayons.

Her inspirations are wide and varied from the fauves and abstract expressionism to Mary Lloyd Jones and David Tress. Thought-out her years of creating she is interested in contrasts: - of colours, textures, scale, mood, and marks, creating energy, perspective and atmosphere in her work.

Her paintings have energy and delight the eye. Her studio is based at Craft Renaissance near Chainbridge where she has developed a range of art workshops, and is open to the public alongside the Cafe and Gallery.

The exhibition is at Frogmore Street Gallery Abergavenny between 1-3pm and runs for the whole of October.