Hamilton -- until December 21.

Perhaps the most significant thing about this massive exhibition is that I counted only four awards and commendations.

Maybe deliberate on the part of the jurors -- but perhaps a realistic assessment on the quality of the 66 works on show.

And one of the top awards went to one of Sheilagh Head's oils -- not to one of the better works I have seen either.

It is praised for its simplicity, long view and carrying power -- it's also a bit muddy and slaphappy compared to her best work -- but I agree it's one of the best on show here.

Last year's winter show had more than 100 paintings adorning the walls of the BSoA gallery -- at the time criticised as being an unfortunate by-product of the Christmas spirit.

Somebody in the BSoA has been at the sherry already I suspect and a bit of ruthless pruning -- quite appropriate considering the rather tedious obsession with the standard Bermuda cottage, Island gardens and plants -- would have cut the numbers down by a healthy percentage.

Another minus is that many of the works on show have been seen at least once before.

Considering the standard, Graham C. Foster's surrealistic acrylic work Boy Throwing Watermelon -- complete with his quirky and unsettling view of Bermudian architecture -- came as a breath of fresh air.

And Antoine Hunt's Nature's Children, a plain black wall-hanging with a pale plant climbing with only a touch of colour to the upper leaves, was a restful and restrained work compared to some of the garish and overblown exhibits on show.

Dan Dempster's cross between the art of the painter and the dynamics of the physicist were a welcome addition to the show -- but again at least one of his three works was favourably reviewed here not too many weeks ago.

Mary Powell took the top prize for watercolours and deservedly so -- but again against very weak opposition.

Her view of Flatts Village was neatly done and without lurching into the twee -- and at only $750 was a bit of a bargain too, compared to works whose price tags matched their pretensions if not their quality.

Of the unashamedly representational works, Bruce Stuart's acrylic In the Afternoon Sun stood out. Acrylic, I feel, lends a certain flatness which helps capture Bermuda's unusual light and his green and orange glowed -- but there's not much to get excited about to be sure.

And Ann Proctor's Acorns, a tiny and deceptively subdued work, had hidden depths -- which the painters of the lurid lotus, monstrous morning glory and dreadful dahlias could learn a lot from.

Similarly, Christopher Marson's commended watercolour Saco River deserved its Christmas garland.

But on the whole, there was too little imagination and too many cottages and beaches.

But it's one possible reason for the apparently simultaneous decline in tourism and the rise in crime.

The poor Americans can't get onto the beaches without tripping over easels -- and the ever-increasing reports of prowlers in gardens are probably just painters suffering from over-enthusiasm.

But if Home Affairs and Safety Minister Quinton Edness ever makes it an offence to behave in a manner liable to cause cloying prettiness, quite a few of the arts crowd in Bermuda would be spending Christmas in the nick.

RAYMOND HAINEY