Jill in pastel passion

The artist, who can be found on weekends outside Tea Monkey, near the concrete cows display in MK shopping centre, has had a major success recently with her work selected from hundreds of entries to appear alongside paintings by some of Britain’s leading pastel artists.

Love Pastels 2012, the Pastel Society UK’s annual exhibition, will be on display at The Mall Galleries near Trafalgar Square between today and February 25.

Said Jill: “My piece is called The King of Lo. It is part of a series of work which I hope to exhibit to raise £10,000 for the tiny, ancient and remote Kingdom of Lo on the Tibetan Plateau, in the Himalayas.

“Following an audience with the King in the capital Lo Manthang I pledged to help this community to prevent the loss of life prevalent in childbirth there.”

“For Valentines Day I had the idea to put i.e. you and your partner in the Hollister kiss, as featured on their carrier bag. Your readers will have their own ideas.”

You can read more on the Forbidden Kingdom art project on Jill’s website http://www.jillbuckingham.co.uk