LUCY Beveridge combines images of period architecture with acrylic-on-canvas representations of English and Italian theatres and pictorial references to Shakespeare’s plays in her Grays Court exhibition in York.

The Hampstead artist has derived inspiration from the stage designs of Inigo Jones and period architecture from ancient Greece and Rome to the late-19th century for a show entitled Architecture, Theatres and Performance.

Lucy exhibited her first drawing at the age of 12 in a Huddersfield competition for amateur artists and her work was published for the first time at 16, when a black-and-white illustration appeared in the Huddersfield poetry magazine, The North.

Between 2003 and 2005, she completed an art history degree at Brighton University and an MA in Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Cultural History of Renaissance England at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford.

Alongside her studies, Lucy undertook the set/property design for the Shakespeare Institute Players’ productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth and visited castles, period buildings and historic theatres to familiarise herself with the development of period architecture through the ages.

She developed a particular interest in the designs of Inigo Jones, the 17th century architect and stage designer in the court of James I.

After graduation, she drew these assorted interests and influences together and began to exhibit paintings on themes ranging from theatre/period architecture to theatre itself and Shakespearean characterisation in fine art.

“My work is on the borderline between art and design, informed by my interests in architectural history, production design for theatre and film and the work of Inigo Jones,” says Lucy, who has exhibited previously in York at the Blake Head Bookshop, in Micklegate, and Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate.

Her summer exhibition runs at Grays Court, from this week until June 11. On show there too is the Evidence Of Life show by Paul Wilks, a York artist known for his “Dal Vero” works, in essence pastels and drawings done from direct observation.

The strange and colourful pastels in this series were all executed directly from life at the Royal Academy and RBA Life Drawing Studios between January and Easter this year, and they record poses of five to 20 minutes’ duration in life-drawing classes.

Paul was born in Fishergate, York, and studied the fine art course at York School of Art. Now a member of the Royal Academy Alumni Association, he retains strong links with his home city.

Further information and exhibition opening times can be found at grayscourtyork.com. Entry is free.