Separating the colour of art from the colour of money can be a frustrating assignment.

For Mrs. Carole Holding, the artistic force behind the art business Carole Holding Studios, separating these two components of her successful business it not nearly as frustrating now as it was in the past.

"Today I don't let it become frustrating, I take care of business first,'' she said.

Having an established art business does not necessarily mean more ease at the aisle though.

The business has grown to a small group of stores and there is not nearly the time to paint, she admits.

Carole Holding Studios includes four shops, two in Dockyard and two in St.

George's, owned by Mrs. Holding and her husband Mr. Joe Holding.

Carole Holding Studio and the Long House Gallery are located in St. George's while an art, as well as a separate antique shop, are located in the Clocktower Mall at Dockyard.

The business would not have developed to its present level without husband Mr.

Joe Holding, she said.

Mr. Holding, who left his controller position at the Sonesta Beach Hotel about seven years ago to direct his energies full-time to his wife's art business, is president of Carole Holding Studios.

He had worked at the Bermudiana Hotel as well as the Southampton Princess. His training was in accounting, a skill he uses today to oversees the books of Carole Holding Studios.

Mrs. Holding grew up with the hotel industry, as her father, an auctioneer turned hotelier owned two hotels in the north of England.

She came to Bermuda in 1968 and worked in the hotel industry.

After her first daughter was born in 1975, Mrs. Holding took up painting for recreation.

Since the mid-1970s she has worked almost exclusively with watercolours with the only exceptions the occasional a commission work in oil. Her first painting efforts were in oil.

Her works depict Bermuda's flowers and scenes through soft pastels. "A friend, Anne Sulley, saw my work and suggested I should try and sell it,'' she recalled.

"I approached Mr. Bernard Wells of Wells Fine Art Gallery about including my work at his gallery. About seven pieces were sold in a week and he called and asked for more. At the same time, in the Tapioca Balloon owned by Lindy Thatcher and Carol Ashton, I had works displayed,'' she said.

Her first big exhibition was in 1981 at the Windjammer Gallery where 72 pieces were displayed and only three or four did not sell.

Though she could not put a sales figure or even describe in percentage terms how well the business had done year over year Mrs. Holding said the business has done very well.

She recently sold one work -- sight unseen -- for $4,000. The buyer was an American collector who had been interested in acquiring one of her originals for about the last four years. She has sold up to $5,000 worth of originals in one week.

Carole Holding Studios has 20 employees, the latest a general manager. It is hoped, said Mrs. Holding, that the general manager who will run the day to day operations of the four shops, will afford the artist the time to return more energy to painting.

Business has grown to a concern which only allows her time to produce one per month.

Part of the success of the business is the intense attention to detail, she said.

Mrs. Holding is even a stickler for the colour in her advertisements.

She will even pull an ad if the colour was not up to her standards, she said.

"We publish the art using local printers. We wholesale the art. I see every piece that goes out -- when you allow somebody else to do this you lose control of the product. We have quality control,'' she said.

"Another reason for the success of the company is that I do not rely on another person to supervise the colour. I am selling colour.'' Her curriculum vitae includes and wide range of art accomplishments.

She has won artist of the year from the Business and Professional Women's Association, won a blue ribbon at the New Orlean's World's Fair in 1984 for her work "Bermuda Flowers'' and is listed in Fodor's "Meet the Artist'' publication.

Her works have been displayed in the Premier's office and at "Chelston'', the US Consul General's residence.

She also has collections displayed at nine Bermuda locations, among them the Bank of Butterfield, the Bank of Bermuda and the Mid Ocean Club, and six firms abroad, from Canada and the US to Germany and Japan.

Her work has also been exhibited at many special events.

She also helped set up the craft market in Dockyard but later moved out of the market and set up a location in St. George's in the historical society building in the mid 1980s.

These achievements are just a few of many listed on Ms Holding's curriculum vitae.

She is affiliated with the Windjammer Gallery Bermuda, Baimain Antiques, Bahamas, the former Palm Beach Art Gallery, Florida, and the Turner Gallery in England.

Mrs. Holding, born in Morecambe, England, and proud of her Bermudian citizenship, particularly enjoys painting Bermuda's flowers and scenes.

She said always paints on location despite the inconveniences of the elements because she feels it is the best way to capture the image.

Mr. and Mrs. Holding, who live in Paget are planning to move soon to Harbour Road, Warwick.

Bermuda artist Mrs. Carole Holding