At her easel, with a canvas and a brush in hand her real self emerges, according to painter Andrea Carter.

?As I endeavour to transfer my deepest joys, fears, thoughts and feelings to canvas, I?m at peace ? I shall never stop painting,? she said.

Her show, ?A Change of Style? is being held in the Bermuda Society of Art?s Edinburgh Gallery on May 20.

Mrs. Carter, who is married to the the Island?s Deputy Governor Nick Carter, said she discovered her passion for art late in life.

?I began painting when I retired after having worked from the age of 13 to 60,? said the artist who feels privileged to be exhibiting during Heritage Month.

?So, that makes it just under four years.

?At 60, as we were on a three-year posting in Riga, Latvia, I enrolled in the Latvia National Academy of Art where I studied under Professor Aleksjes Naumovs.

?When we left Latvia for Bermuda, I enrolled in The Bermuda College Fine Arts Department and throughout this time I?ve also had private tuition with several Bermudian artists of renown.?

For Mrs. Carter, art means many things ? many things to do with her inner self, her inner being.

?Self-expression, fulfilment, achievement, peace of mind and happiness,? said Mrs. Carter, ?To be cherished and nurtured.?

She has exhibited both as a solo artist and a part of a group show at the Globus Gallery and Grand Palace Hotel, both in Riga, Latvia, the Bermuda Society of Art, Bermuda Art Centre Dockyard, Masterworks Botanical Gardens, and at the Kafu Gallery.

Mrs. Carter has a gregarious personality that reaches out to all.

She is of Eastern European and Spanish descent, and spent her early life in East London and has since lived all over the world.

Of her life since she married the deputy Governor 11 years ago, she said: ?Marriage to a diplomat makes for one heck of a life!

?It is exciting, challenging, exhausting and always scary. Imagine tri-yearly moves to a different country, anywhere in the world ? from Paris to the back of the beyond.

?Maybe a dilapidated excuse for a house falling down around your ears, for a home or no running water, electricity, or gas.

?Maybe a state of the art house in the poshest part of town. It is new experiences, challenges, culture, language, climate, and friends to make; the integration process into new surroundings and way of life, sometimes in a hostile environment are however, one way or another, usually enriching.?

All of her experiences make for no lack of inspiration she said.

?Inspiration is rarely a problem for me,? she said.

?I?ve always had a mega-vivid imagination, perhaps born of a violent childhood.

?My mind exudes a plethora of pictures, which vary from nightmarishly scary to pretty as a picture ? even in my sleep.

?But, a poem, a film, a story, something I see somewhere, or hear can often result in a painting.?

The medium she works in is acrylics ?because I?m too impatient to waste the precious time it takes for oil paints to dry?.

?Acrylic paints dry quickly and are more versatile. They can be watered down and used as water colours or, as I use them, to reflect my character, strong and dramatic.

?Hence, my use of the ?super heavy and heavy body? acrylics, which I can slap on by the gallon!?

The general theme throughout her 25 pieces that she will be exhibiting is Surrealist.

?It is my only true love,? she said, ?But, not always of the spooky kind.?

Of her studio where she paints as a full-time artist, she said: ?It suits me down to the ground!?

?I grab every single moment I can get, which is never as much as I would wish for.?

Her pieces can take anywhere from a week to a month or more to complete ? ?it all depends on the size of the canvas, the subject and how it develops?.

Mrs. Carter?s is in love with all of her pieces.

?Each and every one of them,? she said, ?From ?The little Barn Door? to the large ?Penguin Colony II?.

?This show will be more varied in my choice of subjects ? spreading my wings? Hopefully ever improving.?