After almost three decades in accounts administration, Meredith Johnson is now setting her eyes on more colourful objectives.

The Sandys retiree will be holding her first art show out of her house near Mangrove Bay in Sandys, today.

“Painting was always something I wanted to do,” said Mrs Johnson. “I painted a bit when I was younger, but you know how it is, you get busy and things fall by the wayside. I worked for 27 years in accounts administration at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. When retirement was looking at me, I said to myself ‘if you want to do something, it’s time you do it’.”

After retirement three years ago, she began taking classes with artist Sharon Wilson.

“I took classes with her for about a year,” said Mrs Johnson. “She was a good teacher. I recommend her highly. I have been painting ever since. If I’m not gardening, I’m painting. I love it.”

Her art has appeared in several group shows including one held last year in Dockyard called ‘In the Garden’. A friend urged her to hold a solo show.

She decided the best place would be her own back yard in Sandys. Her art show is called ‘Art with a Diff’.

“When I was little, someone in the family called me ‘Diff’ and the nickname stuck,” said Mrs Johnson. “So the title is a play on that. I like to do still life. I like buildings. I like foliage. I don’t like to do portraits. I can do them, but I find that I do better if I know the person. To me if you are doing a portrait you have to get the essence of a person.”

She said if there is any secret to pastels, it is patience.

“Pastels go on in layers,” she said. “You have layer after layer.”

Canada-based artist and art curator, Joan Butterfield, a childhood friend of Mrs Johnson, saw promise in her budding talent. Mrs Butterfield has travelled to Bermuda for the show.

“I am amazed at Meredith’s ability to capture the beauty in mundane objects,” said Mrs Butterfield. “She, in such a short period of time, has become skilled at using the sensuality of colour, infusing them onto her canvas, where endless nuances of abstract and representational images become comfortable in the same space. I’m so looking forward to travelling home to Bermuda, to support my friend, in this her first solo art exhibit.”

Mrs Butterfield, who is Bermuda-born, is accompanied by Chantal Gibson, an artist and senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University.

Ms Johnson has made great strides very quickly, perfecting her artistic voice in pieces that depict buildings and everyday items around the house or in nature. She admits she didn’t dare imagine putting on a show quite like this just two-and-a-half years into retirement.

Art With a Diff is open to the public today from 3pm until 6pm at 3 Mangrove Lane, Somerset with a rain date of May 10. Her artwork will be available for sale in recycled frames, an effort to make the pieces affordable to as wide an audience as possible.