Illustrator and painter Joannah May has taken over Marlborough's only dedicated art gallery, which has been run for the past 20 years by Andy le Poidivin.

Mr le Poidivin, who lives in Purton, opened the Studio Art Gallery in Hughenden Yard as a working studio that he could also use to display not only his own paintings, but also those of other local artists.

Ms May said she plans to run the Studio Gallery along the same lines, using it as a studio where she carries out her own detailed wildlife paintings, and as a shop window for her own work and that of other artists.

Joining her in the opening exhibition is Mark Upton, from Marlborough, a former St John's student, who is fast becoming acknowledged as one the top young racing and country sports artists.

Mr Upton's action paintings of horses, race meetings and jockeys provide a complete contrast to Ms May's detailed works of animal life. They are so precise that every hair on the wild animals and feather on her bird subjects can be picked out.

Mr Upton is the grandson of the former top racehorse trainer, the late Bob Turnell, and gets his love of country sports from his father, the falconer Roger Upton.

His brother, Guy, was formerly a top flight national hunt jockey which gave him an even deeper understanding of horses at work and exercise.

Ms May was a wildlife book illustrator before turning her hand to painting and the detail in her work shows her close study of her subjects.

One of the first paintings to sell was one of a pair of boxing hares although she admits she has never personally witnessed this phenomena.

Ms May said she was delighted with the public response since she re-opened the gallery three weeks ago.