Linda Naismith criticised Cupar Arts and Heritage Project's (CAHP) attitude towards commercial art, as well as its efforts to publicise the event.

For the last two weeks her work has been on display and sale independently in The Cat's Whiskers on Lady Wynd, alongside that of fellow artist Sheila Lawson.

Ms Naismith said: "We had originally planned to be part of the festival itself, but were put off by the committee's attitude towards commercial art.

"Cupar is a town with so much potential as a centre of art in Fife and yet many local artists wouldn't even consider taking part — perhaps because of this attitude, but also possibly because of the apparent contradiction that the festival takes 25 per cent of all sales.

"While I do not wish to detract from the hard work of the festival committee, they surely need to recognise that artists need to pay their bills the same as anyone else."

Ms Naismith also said she had received a "plethora of negative comments" relating to the festival's profile within the town.

She said: "Many customers said that you could drive through Cupar and not even know there was a festival taking place.

"More consideration should be given to the public face of the festival if it is to stand a chance of surviving."

Responding to the criticism, Gayle Nelson, visual arts co-ordinator of CAHP, said: "The organisers of Cupar Arts Festival welcome all creative ventures.

"We are pleased to be able to feature them as they add to the overall strength and broad appeal of the festival, and we do not take commission on work sold by anyone running an independent exhibition or event.

"There has been no dialogue between ourselves and Ms Naismith regarding the inclusion of The Cat's Whiskers in the festival guide.

"In terms of festival publicity, there are banners at various locations on approach to Cupar and within the town.

"We are not permitted, due to health and safety regulations, to hang banners overhead across the street.

"The festival has been extremely well publicised and supported in the press, and we would be very grateful for offers of assistance from anyone interested in seeing the festival further publicised.

"We feel we are doing our best with a limited budget and relatively small number of people."