Former Weyburn resident Amber Ward took part in a multi-artist exhibition of emerging artists in a U.S. gallery, her first exhibition.

Amber is the daughter of Darryl and Patricia Ward and is a graduate of the Weyburn Comprehensive School, Medicine Hat College and the Vancouver Film School. She now resides in Nashua, New Hampshire, with her husband, Jeremy Cleek.

She created a series of 10 thematically-related paintings for the show, held at The Banks Gallery in the seacoast town of Portsmouth, N.H.

The paintings combine realism and surrealism, and feature trees against a coloured background. The vibrant colours in the background give it a surreal touch.

In an interview, Amber explained she had been out with her husband's mother, Elaine Farmer, who is a well-known Plein Air artist.

"We came upon this tree one day. I was into abstract art at the time, but she asked me to draw this tree, so I sketched it. I ended up with 10 other pieces from it," she said.

She says she didn't always start out each painting trying to evoke a particular emotion, but admits that afterwards there are different moods created as a result of the colours she uses.

The exhibition with six other emerging artists was her first foray into exhibiting in a gallery, and hopes there will be others as a result. The exhibition opened with an artists' reception on Nov. 11 and ends on December 3.

Amber said she will likely try to put together another series, and also to submit this series to other galleries.