Mr. Trousdell, a former Bermuda resident and familiar face on the local art scene, considers himself "not religious" and yet has produced a series of paintings inspired by Biblical stories and executed in a manner similar to the reliefs and colourful glyphs found on Mayan temples.

The series of twelve museum-wrapped canvases, entitled "Inspirations", is created through a technique known as cut canvas and is on exhibit at the Edinburgh Gallery of the Bermuda Society of Arts until November 30.

Commissioned by Bishop Tajra of the Order of St. Mary the Virgin, Paris, to create a piece of work based on the story of Ruth as part of a series on women in the Bible, Mr. Trousdell was so inspired by the project that he went on to create 11 other pieces of work.

He has used a technique which involves literally cutting apart a canvas and reassembling it on another canvas. This allows for editing and final creative considerations to give a sense of depth found on the bas-relief images of Maya art.

Mr. Trousdell explained that Bishop Tajra started the Marial Museum of the Sacred Heart in St. Augustine, Florida where Mr. Trousdell and his wife Tina now live.

"He had a show based upon women of the Bible and asked the artists in the area to contribute to the exhibition. It was a chance for me to work in an area where I had never worked before - religious art."

"I am not a Bible person myself, although my wife is. And as I got into it ? I did Ruth for (Bishop Tajra) ? it opened up to me a whole new area of storytelling that seemed to have been neglected in the last 100 years or so.

"It seems that most (contemporary) artists would not go into (religious art) because it was considered maybe corny, old story or Renaissance kind of stuff."

Mr. Trousdell felt he was being given an opportunity to explore an area that maybe many contemporary artists don't consider viable subject matter. "People still like to look at paintings that have a story in them, which is a very old idea compared to a lot of stuff, which is art for the artist's sake.

?Sometimes it is abstract and the attitude (of the artist) is 'I don't care if the public gets anything.'

Once Mr. Trousdell jumped in with both feet, he found a connection with the Old and New Testaments ? and the values that people live by every day "even if they are not Bible (reading) people."

He has also found further encouragement from Episcopalians ? American members of the Anglican Communion ? who have given him positive comments.

"It has opened all kinds of doors to me, and what really came out is that it touched people when they saw the painting and then the story next to it.

"And the people that were religious really liked it, and I am a contemporary painter, so their reaction scared me although they reacted favourably.

Too often in contemporary society ? or so it appears to Mr. Trousdell, at least ? people are desensitised to the meaning of the stories in the Bible, with many seeing sacred art only on Christmas cards that they don't really react to.

"They are more numbed by it, and I wanted to give something which is worthy of discussion," he said. "A lot of the reaction is 'Oh, I didn?t know where that story came from.'

"For instance David and Goliath you hear a lot in conjunction with sport, but the actual story in the Bible is an interesting one. Or the Good Samaritan ? the actual story is fun for them to see. I also have Noah, a story of obedience, as he is being told to build this ark. Mr. Trousdell has also painted Joshua at Jericho, symbolising perseverance as he is told to surround the fortress for seven days and only to blow his horn on the seventh day.

"Then you have Daniel, who was really thrown to the lions, and because he had Gabriel on his side, the lions were silent - it takes faith to do that.

"And Moses is an interesting one. When he sees the burning bush, which scares him, and then he is told to pick up the rod which turns into a snake ? he displays trust. And then there is one with the birds and the lilies in the field, which is about values.

Mr. Trousdell chose to present his work on cut canvas, a technique inspired by Mayan ruins in what is now Mexico, Honduras and Belize, particularly in the Yucatan peninsula. "I had gone to the pyramids and that is where I got inspired by their symbolic reliefs on the sides of the buildings and I decided to come up with a technique which literally cuts the canvas and reassembles it on another canvas and then rubs over it to give it a feeling of dimension.

"So the paintings have much more than a flat look to them. These are very much like icons from a church stained glass window." The result, he points out is Mayan influences on the presentation of a Christian story "which is a kind of interesting point of view."

The artist has used a mixed media of acrylic and oil mixed together , an unusual technique which gives the paintings a glowing quality because it uses an iridescent colour.

"And as you go around the room the paintings have a tendency to change colour," which, Mr. Trousdell explained, leads to an interaction between the paintings and the viewer as he or she moves around the gallery.

All the canvases are 24" by 30" and are museum wrapped canvas, i.e. without framing.