A serious bout of the ME illness left Kate Smith unable to work - but it unlocked her artistic talents.

And now the former Wallingford School pupil is making a big name for herself in her adopted New Zealand.

She won the 2007 Pastel Artist of New Zealand award and her paintings figured in this year's NZ Artfind calendar and another one is in the 2008 edition.

Ms Smith, 31, was born in Wallingford but lived in St Helen's Way, Benson before moving to New Zealand five years ago.

She went to school in Benson until she was 11, then to Wallingford School when it was in Station Road, trained as a veterinary nurse at the the Berkshire College of Agriculture before going on to the University of Bristol.

Ms Smith later attained a Zoology degree at Nottingham University.

She and her husband Mark Tester went out to New Zealand in 2002 and while there in Christchurch she succumbed to ME, the chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness which affects the neurological. endocrine and immune systems.

But it was while she was unable to work that her latent artistic talents emerged.

She is pictured with one of her pastel art works, Offer of Love.