Maxine Johnston was a keen student of drawing and painting from an early age, winning prizes at the local annual shows and always topping the class in art.

Her dream was to become an art teacher, but unfortunately family circumstances prevented her from following her dream.

At the age of forty she had her first lesson in oils followed by water colour, then acrylics. Her art was put on hold for some time until six years ago when Maxine decided to spend more time on her favourite hobby.

She joined an art society where she attended many workshops. Over time her work has been influenced by tuition from a number of professional artists including Graham Bryce and the late Brian Hasler.

Now Maxine paints mostly in water based oils or acrylic and covers a variety of subjects from local scenes to paintings that tell a story, mostly catching the light and shade, depth and mood of the subject.