Nancy Valentine has chosen Bermuda-inspired images for her one-woman show. Her style may be loosely described as impressionistic, although it edges (perhaps too diffidently) towards the abstract in her most successful paintings.

Working in oils, her heavy impasto, achieved by skillful use of a palette knife, is richly textured and reveals a fine painterly quality.

It is her colours that assail the senses, however, and the predominance of brittle-bright blues and greens will not be to everyone's taste: There is a sensation that she has captured the underwater colours of Bermuda rather than those that bound across the Island's sunny landscape. While she is by no means the only artist who apparently sees these hues as the intrinsic element in Bermuda's natural palette of colours, it does add an air of sameness to her land and seascapes and one is left wondering what hour of the day is being portrayed and what season.

There are exceptions to the sometimes garish blue-green theme and these paintings seem to be the most satisfying. The quest to capture the extraordinarily bright light of the Island without descending into a world of technicolour is one that has defeated many artists before Nancy Valentine and when she turns to more inclement seasons, her work immediately takes on a quieter and infinitely more subtle quality. This is clearly seen in two very effective paintings, where Stormy Day on the Great Sound and January Day at Riddell's Bay speak of cold winds that flail against unusually brooding grey skies.

The main bulk of her work in this show is of landscapes, in which golf courses hold an honoured place. This is not as odd as it may seem since they do form part of Bermuda's spectacular scenery. This is especially apparent in her picture at the Mid Ocean Club, where the 18th tee is poised on the edge of a deeply sculptured cliff that falls dramatically away into the sea.

Her rather abstract view of the Port Royal Course is also pleasing, and an indication that when she uses a greater variety of colours -- here, there is a pinkish sky and splendidly purple rocks in the foreground -- the overall impact is greatly heightened.

Her bird's-eye view of Long Bay in Somerset is equally effective, and again, has a post-impressionistic air.

Flowers form an important part of Nancy Valentine's artistic repertoire but it is her humbler blooms, rather than the flamboyant Easter lilies that linger in the memory.

Despite the thick texture of the paint, her daffodils, residing in a yellow pot and some of them bowing under the weight of their blooms, are painted with subtlety and even tenderness, as are the spring flowers placed, as Matisse like to do, against the brilliance of a blue background sea. The impressionistic study of sweet peas and snapdragons, peeping out of a conch shell, is beautifully portrayed.

There is a distinct feeling that the impact of Nancy Valentine's highly individualistic approach might have been enhanced had this been a two-person show, where an altogether quieter artist could have provided a tempering foil.

-- Patricia Calnan A SHOW OF VALENTINES -- Mrs. Nancy Hutchings Valentine seen with one of the exhibits in her one-woman show at the Windjammer Gallery.