Ovenden was born in 1945 in
Amersham,
Buckinghamshire. Ovenden was educated at the
Royal Wanstead School and from 1961, studied at High Wycombe School of Art. She worked as a graphic designer and painter in London, before moving to Cornwall with her then-husband
Graham Ovenden in 1973. In 1975, she was a founding member of the
Brotherhood of Ruralists with Graham Ovenden,
Peter Blake,
David Inshaw,
Ann Arnold and her husband
Graham Arnold, and
Jann Haworth. She has been elected to the
St Ives Society of Artists. Ovenden's paintings have a Romantic rural theme, for example painting portraits of inhabitants of a small
Cornwall village. She has had solo exhibitions in
Ludlow (1990) and
Liskeard (2001). She has designed theatre sets and props, including for London's
Hampstead Garden Opera. ==References==