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.
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).[1] She has designed theatre sets and props, including for London's Hampstead Garden Opera.