MARIANNE Birkby is among a select few wildlife artists whose images have the ability to take your breath away.

Geoff Taylor and Phillip Allder also spring to mind as having that wonderful gift of capturing nature at its best.

In Marianne's latest show, High Places, running at Kendal's Signature Gallery until December 20, there's a significant shift in the subject matter of her work.

Low lying landscapes with animals and birds now share the same exhibition space as paintings and sketches of towering vistas, bordering on the sweeping brushstroke territory well-trodden by artists such as the esteemed Julian Cooper.

From St Anthony's Tower in Milnthorpe (with an owl in the foreground) to the Mont Blanc massif, Marianne's High Places exhibition is as wide ranging as it is impressive.

Marianne explains that her paintings and drawings explore the nature matrix, which is at its most powerful and fragile in the mountains.

"Powerful in scale and extremity but the fragility of the nature matrix is seen in the retreating glaciers - if the glaciers go so do the fertile valleys. And we all collude in this."

Marianne and husband Paul are keen climbers.

However, up until now, high altitude panoramas have never figured in Marianne's artwork.

"I've always taken my sketchbook, but this is the first time I've done anything as extreme as this."

Late Afternoon View of the Mont Blanc range is a good example of Marianne's new upward direction and her mixed media Vinci, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful classic routes in the Central Alps, has the rugged air and sharpness akin to a view of Cumbria's own Striding Edge.

Ibex (mountain goats) grace two of Marianne's work - the 21st July acrylic, and Ibex.

The Milnthorpe artist is well know for flying the flag of conservation, particularly trees.

An all round wildlife campaigner, RSPB volunteer and founder of the popular programme of wildlife art workshops at Leighton Moss, she's particularly proud that a decade after her award-winning Rusland Beeches campaign, the trees are still standing.

"That's the reason I paint, because of my love of nature," she adds.

Her work on the guidebook and interpretation panels at the Aquarium of the Lakes, at Newby Bridge, led to a highly commended in the annual McNaughton Review, for best design and print.

Educated at Ulverston Victoria High School, Marianne went on to Blackpool and the Fylde College of Further and Higher Education, gaining an advanced diploma in Technical and Scientific Communications (visual).

She was senior artist at London's Polymark Technographics and worked freelance for a time in the capital.

As well as founding BB Design Associates with Paul in 1985, Marianne has lectured on drawing at Carlisle College of Art and Design and was drawing/graphics lecturer at what was Lancashire Polytechnic, at Preston.

Solo and joint exhibitions have ranged from Silverdale to Italy, and her work has been published in card form, by Medici Greeting Cards, and in Wildlife in the Country, a children's book by Random House.

As well as High Places, Signature is also showing In The Frame - a smaller exhibition of her works, running until December 1.

Less grand in scale, however, it is still concerned with the environment.

"It's more humble," claims Marianne, "but equally important."

l Signature Gallery is at 16 Kirkland, opposite Abbot Hall, and is open Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm (closed Thursdays) and on Saturdays from 10am-3pm.

For further details contact 01539-730260.