With his first solo show of all-oil paintings opening tonight in the Masterworks Foundation’s Rose Gallery gallery, professional artist Christopher Marson has come full circle, for it was at Masterworks that he had his solo show of watercolours in 1996, and he admits he is both excited and a little anxious.

“It is pretty exciting for me, but for the last few shows I have partnered with Jonah Jones, so this is a lot more stressful.You work for six months and it’s all over in a few hours — but it is also fun.”

He need not worry, however, for the artist who formerly painted exclusively in water colours has long enjoyed a reputation for the beauty of his work — and a strong following of collectors and admirers.

As the title of his new exhibition, ‘Winter Works’ implies, Mr. Marson’s 42-piece collection captures Bermuda landscapes in wintertime, and they were all done on location no matter what the weather.

“So there are quite a few grey ones,” he says, recalling the wet and windy days.

Sizes range from six inches by eight inches to 12 inches by 16 inches, and some of the images can be seen on line at www.chrismarson.com

Mr. Marson first began working in oils about three years ago when he and Mr. Jones attended workshops in Wyoming, USA. He decided to set himself the challenge of having a Spring show this year consisting only of oil paintings on board, and accordingly he has learned a great deal from the exercise.

“In oils you work from dark to light, which is the complete opposite of watercolours. With oils you get to manipulate, play and change things around, which is something you can’t do with water colours. I have learned a lot about values and colour mixing. I use a limited palette of red, blue, yellow and white. That really stretches me as I have to learn how to mix up colours, whereas I probably have 20 colours in my watercolour palette. The end result is that you still get the colours, but with a limited palette, which is a challenge I really have to work at.”

Interestingly, the artist has found that working in oils has had a knock-on effect on the tones of his watercolours.

“They are richer now, simply because I am carrying over some of what I learned whilst doing the oils.” [bul] ‘Winter Works’ opens in Masterworks’ Rose Gallery with a special reception this evening at 5.30 p.m., and continues through May 23. For further information on the artist, and to view some of the paintings in his exhibition see website www.chrismarson.com