A CHISLEHURST artist has come back home for an exhibition celebrating her 50th birthday.

Susan Haire grew up in the area and is getting ready to display her work at the Ripley Arts Centre, in Sundridge Road, Bromley.

The show, called The Painted Veil, reflects on the passing of time and shows the full extent of Haire's abilities as an artist.

As well as using unorthodox methods to complete her pictures, such as squeezing paint through a glass medicine dropper, Haire also paints layered pieces which give the impression of peeling back layers of a story.

Haire, who now lives in Shoreham, plays a big part in Sevenoaks life. She is a self-confessed workaholic, she ran the hugely-successful Shoreham Festival of Music and the early music choir Temenos and is a well-known face in the area. But she gave it all up to return to painting full time.

The Ripley exhibition has one added ingredient: Haire has worked with some of the best up-and-coming poets and songwriters in Europe, among them Nils Schweckendiek and Christopher Willis.

Schweckendiek is studying conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki while Willis has just finished a course at the Royal Academy of Music.

They have both written pieces inspired by Haire's work, which are played as an accompaniment to the innovative exhibition.

- Susan Haire's The Painted Veil is on display at the Ripley Arts Centre, Sundridge Avenue, Bromley, between March 5 and 26. For details of opening times, call 020 8464 5816.