PICTURE this: Ten years ago Janet Martin's Gwent Picture Framing & Gallery (GPF) business was going rather badly.

The bailiffs were banging on the door, the electricity had been turned off and she was selling stuff at car boot sales to make food money for herself and her two daughters.

She said: "I was down to my lowest ebb, when I had a phone call from the college business school - a speaker had dropped out and they wondered if I could give a lecture on what it was like to run your own business.

"I went with a few thoughts scratched down on prompt cards, but in the end I just decided to tell them exactly how bad things can get during the downswings.

"I think I spoke to the whole of the second year and they seemed to appreciate it."

Since then things have picked up a lot and Ms Martin has been able to refurbish her George Street, Newport, gallery, workshop and flat in a suitably arty, comfortable style.

But despite Newport's association with its famous art college many would still say Ms Martin deserves a Victoria Cross for her choice of career.She said: "Some people see art as a luxury, I think it's a necessity."

Despite the city's image as a slightly rough-sewn, industrial centre, Ms Martin believes beneath the surface there's a huge interest in art.

"When we host an open evening at the gallery we have over a hundred people here, they're spilling out of the shop and down the street."

She said the mix includes students, bohemians and professionals looking at art as an investment.

"But there are always plenty of first-timers which I think is brilliant.

"The idea of this gallery is that it should be a friendly, down-to-earth place to enjoy and purchase serious art.The last painting I sold was to the local traffic warden."

On July 19 she's holding her annual one-price "serious art show" where everything on the walls is available at an affordable price. This year the price is £125.

"We have lots of work from artists whose work normally commands fees of £1,000 and upwards.

"We ask them to supply smaller pieces of work and they're usually happy to oblige." Last year, out of 100 pieces of art on display, 60 were sold.

The material is drawn from near and far. Ms Martin does show some local artists but that is not her priority.

"The goal is to have a gallery which is nationally respected and where the criteria is the quality of the work rather than its geographical origin."

One Gwent painter who is represented, and will be enjoying a one-man show - called "It's not unusual" - from September 19 is Mark Williams.

Currently working as a postman in Chepstow - a job which gives him time to paint - Mr Williams is a former student of Newport Art College.

He submitted three pieces for one of Ms Martin's Christmas shows.

One was a modern-day nativity scene set in Mr Williams' mother's back garden in Ponthir.

Instead of the biblical stable it featured a baby buggy and a jumper on a clothes line. "He had no idea how much to ask for it, so I suggested we put a ticket on for £1,000. I sold it in ten minutes."

Ms Martin is very excited about the one-man show.

"His work has a lot of depth and I think you can see influences of Lowry, Beryl Cook and Stanley Spencer."

Another Gwent-based artist whose work has been exhibited at GPF is the late Thomas Rathmell.

The former head of Newport Art College built up a significant following during the course of his painting career and Ms Martin got to know him after doing some picture framing for him.

"He invited me to his home after I expressed an interest in his work," she said. "Instead of payment for my framing I asked for a small drawing, he insisted on giving me six."

Ms Martin became friends with Mr Rathmell, his wife Lillian and his daughter Elizabeth or "Betty" as she was known.

Betty was married to the artist and musician Ian Drury although they eventually divorced. Around 1995, GPF staged an exhibition of Thomas Rathmell's early, unseen drawings. It attracted attention from the Welsh Arts Council which decided to put GPF on its Collectorplan.

This is an interest-free credit scheme which means the buyer of a painting at GPF can split the payment over ten monthly installments.

The artist gets paid immediately, so everybody's happy.

A trained nurse, and still an occasional practising healthworker, Ms Martin has nurtured a lifelong interest in painting.

"I used to visit galleries in Cardiff and London when I was child."

She trained at Cardiff Royal Infirmary and nursed in various parts of the country as she and her ex-husband moved around working as an engineer.

"We moved back to Newport some years ago and I decided that was it, no more relocations, I would make my life and career here.

"I'm proud of this city and want to do all I can to promote it."