AN AWARD-WINNING artist is set to hold a solo exhibition in Alloa – after almost two decades of being persuaded to do so.

Margaret MacGregor will be staging a six-week show of her paintings in The Gallery in Alloa, 18 years after she took part in the opening exhibition there.

The Mill Street venue is to welcome more than 190 framed exhibits with several other unframed pieces also on offer, including 18 original paintings which have never been exhibited before.

Art lovers will be able to catch the exhibition between the hours of 1.30-4.30pm, from Saturday, August 24, until Friday October 4.

Margaret told the Advertiser: "For the first 20 years of my life, up to 1980, I lived on the 100-acre island farm of Alloa Inch on the River Forth.

"Therefore the majority of my paintings are traditional country scenes and a number are of farming scenes of yesteryear captured from fond memories of the years that the family farmed on the island of Alloa Inch from 1951.

"There will also be a wide selection of paintings of the River Forth from sunrise to sunset; many of these are of views from the sandbanks on the river at low tide near Alloa and also of the beaches out to the Forth estuary."

Margaret's display also features a range of local scenes, including Alloa Railway Bridge, Stirling Bridge and the Dunmore Pineapple.

The artist added: "I also enjoy painting a broad range of subjects including, wildlife, animal, floral, quirky and surrealism."

Margaret has been drawing since she could first hold a pencil and her dedication to art has continued ever since and has won her several awards in the process.

She works in all mediums, but has a preference for oil. Over the years, since she was 14, Margaret has won thirteen awards for painting.

Since 1982 she has exhibited in many galleries and venues in Scotland and has numerous paintings hanging in private collections around the world.

In 1988, she obtained a Diploma in Art from London Art College.

In November, 2008, Margaret's painting entitled ''Sunrise over Clackmannanshire Bridge'' was selected by the construction company Morgan VINCI and this was presented to Alex Salmond at the official opening of the bridge on November 19, 2008.

This painting is now hanging in St Andrew's House in Edinburgh as part of the Scottish Parliaments official art collection.

Neil McFarlane, owner of The Gallery, said: "I am delighted that Margaret has agreed to hold her solo exhibition in The Gallery, especially as Margaret is one of the artists that exhibited in our opening exhibition in 2001.

"It feels like it has taken the intervening 18 years to persuade Margaret to hold this show, so I am honoured that she has chosen to have her first solo exhibition within The Gallery."

Entry to the exhibition is free and available Monday to Friday.