Virginia Xaba was born at Winterton, KwaZulu Natal in 1975. One day, walking home from school, she met Fée Halsted-Berning who offered to show Virginia the studio and the creative work of the Ardmore artists.

The result was that, at the age of 17, Bonnie Ntshalintshali and Sindi Ntshalintshali started teaching Virginia how to sculpt and paint. It did not take her long to discover her talent in painting.

Virginia's exceptional drawing can be seen in her animals and plants. Her colours are subtly and painstakingly worked and every detail of feathers, scales and animal skin is patiently created.

Her favourite animal is the leopard, to which she brings a lot of depth and movement through delicate shading.

Virginia is a true painter: she paints realistically and her dishes and bowls are her canvases. She loves the creativity of her work at Ardmore and says: "I always wish to see my work improving and I wish myself a better life".

Her work has attracted the attention of serious Ardmore collectors and, since 1992, has been exhibited in South Africa and overseas, including at Christie's in London.

Virginia has brought her husband Roux to paint and they both are now working at Adrmore Lavendula at Caversham with Fée,