It was four years ago when linguist Casimira Mostyn decided to return to college to develop her painting skills. Since then she has moved from primarily using watercolours to working in acrylics, with some mixed media, after discovering these suited both her and her subject matter well. She describes her work as “almost always bold and colourful” and as covering “the everyday occurrences in life to the surreal”.

Her exhibition of some 50 works exemplifies this well, containing as it does cheerful, bright and breezy pieces that provide interesting takes on their subject matter. Included are her imaginative and off-beat takes on familiar Oxford scenes. In Bridge of Sighs on a Rainy Day in Oxford, (above) formal Lowry-esque figures make their independent ways through an attractively stylised portrait of that familiar arch.

And in The Emperors’ Quirky Heads, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, a couple dressed as from yesteryear view the heads, which return their gaze with an apparent mix of incredulity and insouciance.

Her zany portrait of Patchwork Girl and Spotty Cats places a pigtailed girl in patchwork dungarees against a naive rural backdrop, while the two spotty cats who flank her reflect her impassive, forward stare.

Mostyn has also included less representational pieces, such as The Depth of the Ocean, which provides an intense portrait of the sea, its colours beautifully deconstructed to provide contrast and movement in strong, pure colours.

Heart, Mind and Soul contains a central heart shape picked out in buttons of various colours and surrounded by a swirling pattern of smaller heart shapes in a diversity of sizes and colours.

The exhibition is at Oxford Town Hall and it continues until January 23. It is open daily except between December 23 and January 3, when the Town Hall is closed.