CHARMAIN Lovett, pictured here with her latest exhibition, The Doodlebug Series, tries not to think too much about her art while she is creating it.

"The Doodlebug Series is exactly that — doodles!" she said. "I've always had a habit of sitting and mindlessly doodling on scrap paper, tabletops, even myself sometimes. I applied the same method when I started creating the pieces on canvas."

Tedium, it seems, can be a useful tool.

"The doodle based pieces are usually influenced by boredom to be honest. If I found myself at a loose end I'd just sit and draw patterns while watching telly."

Inspiration often comes in the form of Charmain's old school books and art scrap books.

"I was really heavily influenced by Andy Warhol and the whole pop art movement back then so I always used to be sketching out ideas. I'll quite often find old undeveloped sketches and finish them."

When asked to pick an artist to study at A Level, Charmain had no hesitation in choosing a certain avant-garde artist, notorious in the 60s.

"I had a knowledge of some of the well known pop artists and had for some reason loved Marilyn Monroe from a young age so it seemed logical that I chose Andy Warhol to be my subject."

The artist, whose exhibition is hanging at the Landmark Theatre (where she also works as a front of house manager) has always been attracted to the simplicity of lines and the boldness of colour in pop art.

"The unfussy nature of that genre was entirely opposite to what I was. I was messy and flung paint everywhere. Nothing I ever drew had sharp simple lines so maybe I saw it as a challenge?"

See the results of that challenge at the Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe until Sunday (March 7).