“Bus Stop Angels: My Pity” is by Jennie Sweo of Milford, whose work is appearing in an exhibit, “Heroes, Saints, Catholic School Girls, and other Myths,” at Daniel Webster College through Saturday.

Artist Jennie Sweo arrived in Milford by way of California, Texas, North Carolina, the Czech Republic and Russia.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Cal State, Northridge and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of North Texas.

Sweo can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to draw. She took drawing lessons as a young child, and she sold her first painting at age 14.

Sweo’s first New Hampshire solo exhibit, “Heroes, Saints, Catholic School Girls, and other Myths,” will run through Saturday at the Eaton-Richmond Center Gallery at Daniel Webster College. The collection of 12 pastel drawings took a year and a half to complete.

Sweo considers herself a narrative artist. Each of her works tells a visual story and centers on a theme that explores human interests, exploits, courage or failure. Sometimes, the story in her work is of a more personal nature and comes from one of her own experiences.

“Catholic School Girl Super Hero” is a 50- by 76-inch painting that is the story of Sweo’s alter ego sticking up for herself in a Catholic high school setting.

“Inner Spirit,” 64 inches by 54 inches, portrays the release of tension after leaving school and having the first opportunity to party.

Several pastels are of Sweo’s favorite myths. Why myths? Sweo enjoys updating Greek myths into contemporary settings. In “Achilles and Penthisilia,” 50 inches by 66 inches, Sweo fell in love with Penthisilia as she died, and in this work, she paints her version of the death.

Scale is important to Sweo.

“My paintings tell bold stories,” she said, “so my work needs to be big, bold.”

Bold, to go along with the characters in her paintings.

“I feel comfortable painting large works,” Sweo said.

Courtesy photos “Catholic School Girl Super Hero” is by Jennie Sweo

Sweo’s main objective is to maintain the integrity of her story while holding the composition together. So she focuses on one or two characters and lets the story revolve around them. She tries to visually represent everything that main character would see or sense, including attitudes and relationships.

To Sweo, working in pastels is painting and drawing at the same time.

“It allows me to work as a draughtsman and colorist,” she said.

Sweo believes pastels make her shapes more readily defined, and her colors remain clean and bright. After she completes a work, Sweo applies a thin glaze of acrylic medium to adhere the pastels to the canvas.

“That makes my paintings flexible and easy to move,” said Sweo, who said glazing seals and protects the pastels.

Sweo prefers bright, vibrant, fresco colors. She usually paints her main character or the focal point of her painting in bold colors and the rest of the background in contrasting colors.

Sweo doesn’t frame any of her paintings, though.

“I paint the sides white,” she said, “so the whole piece blends together.”

She uses thick stretcher bars to give her canvas depth from the wall.

Even though Sweo is happy when a piece sells, she paints what she likes.

“I would love to be able to live as a full-time artist,” she said. But Sweo doesn’t consider herself the typical New England artist who specializes in seascapes and sailboats.

“People either like my work of they hate it,” she said. “There is no in-between.”