She spent her lift terrified of running into things or being shaken because she thought the piano would shatter inside her and she would die.

This bizarre slice of history was the inspiration behind the latest body of work from Mudgee artist Pamela Welsh. Pamela, in her 'first big exhibition', will present her series of detailed sculptures based around the extraordinary life of Princess Alexandra at the Mudgee Arts Precinct from April 8 to June 26.

Pamela's intricately detailed sculptures portray a series of princesses who suffer from this rare psychological condition known as 'glass delusion'. The exhibition invites viewers to explore their transcendental worlds which capture the hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep or the dichotomy of reality and fantasy.

We caught up with Pamela at her home in Mudgee. The works were ready ahead of time, being carefully placed in their space at the gallery ahead of their Friday debut.

The pieces have been lovingly created over a number of years, with Pamela gravitating to the medium of clay intuitively.

"I don't think I considered it another way. I trained originally as a painter," she said.

"So that hence I do lots of painterly stuff on them. But when I first came across clay, it appealed to me more than painting really.

"I have a need, like some people do to make things in three dimensions."

Inspiration can come from unexpected places. Such was the case this time for Pamela who admits she 'never listens to the radio', heard the story of Princess Alexandra on a radio program one day.

"I came across it by accident and I thought 'this is a steel in terms of visual ideas'. You can just feed off it, it's really lovely," she said.

The pieces, which Pamela has created over more than a year, bring shape to the Princesses malady with piano-like shapes present in all of the sculptures.

"She's always the shape of the piano, somewhere in there is this piano," she said.

"It's like a metaphor or a motif or something for - I suppose it's madness. I am not serious about I find it funny. They're funny little things really.

"They take a long time to make and I have rejects or I'll make something and get it maybe even to the last stage and I think 'no, no, it's not right' and I'll just throw it out."

The Princess and the Piano will debut at Mudgee Arts Precinct on Friday. Mudgee Arts Precinct is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm. Entry is free.