Stuck in a flat with glandular fever in Lyon, France, 21-year-old languages student, Amber Marie Williams, from Westfield, discovered she had a new talent last September. As part of her degree, Amber Marie had to live abroad for a year, gaining language experience, but within weeks, became ill and had to stay indoors.

Using photographs and only a biro and sketchbook bought from Lidl, Amber Marie began to pass the time producing portraits of dogs. Each picture was taking about a day to complete and she found that she would have to use the same pen to get the right amount of contrast. So a biro running out half-way through was something of a headache! She was also using any bits of paper or canvas she could lay her hands on.

"I start on the eyes first," said Amber Marie, "Once I know I have got those right, the piece can progress from there. Without the detail in the eyes, the portraits don't have the right spirit and end up in the bin!"

From a young age, Amber Marie has always loved languages, passed on by her mother. By the age of six, she was being tutored in French, but was taught through play, something she believes to be a very important learning tool.

By the time Amber Marie went to secondary school, at Norton Hill, she was way ahead of her classmates. She went on to do extra GCSEs in German and Spanish, set up a language club at school and had taken a degree in Italian by the time she was sixteen through the Open University. Her love of languages means she can also speak some Welsh, Arabic, Polish, Mandarin and can also use sign language. She is about to begin her dissertation exploring why our culture seems reluctant to learn new languages and wants to work alongside schools when she graduates to inspire young people.

Whilst Amber Marie has always been creative and used drawing as a hobby, it was during her enforced rest time that she began to seriously produce portraits.

"I also paint giraffes using an unusual medium," explains Amber Marie. "One day, I dipped by paintbrush into my coffee, instead of a water pot! But it creates amazing variations in shade, depending on whether you use it watered down or as a paste. They still smell of coffee for weeks after they've dried!"

Amber Marie is now receiving commissions for pet portraits and the public will be able to see her work with an exhibition at Victoria Hall, Radstock, from 6th September until 2nd October. For the first week of the exhibition, Amber Marie will be Victoria Hall's 'artist in residence', creating portraits before she goes back to university.