When years of effort, passion and assimilated skill are combined with an above-average talent, a star may rise above the fray. But in the quirky world of the visual arts, the years of experience category is sometimes eclipsed by a smidgeon of magic ?Neverland fairy-dust?.

Heather Macdonald?s first solo exhibition is a case in point.

The expressionistic presentations she offers us tell a very compelling series of stories. Her landscapes are quite arresting.

But, don?t get me wrong, this isn?t expressionism loaded with an ?in your face attack on the senses?. There is no wild lay-down of hard-edged pure pigment just because she can. Macdonald?s style doesn?t pander to idiosyncratic tantrums.

She actually seems interested in saying something to you and not ?at you?. Implicit in the first impact of her work is communication, touching and moving a viewer ? concepts of traditional painting.

Macdonald?s blending of tinted and saturated hues glowingly express what her memory has taken in. Feelings come through as in a choreographed dance. And the intensity of her palette is definitely not based on shyness.

She shares without equivocation what she experiences. And it pleases her to share it all.

What we viewers feel is also taken into account. And this is a refreshing change from the usual fare with a preponderance of ?who gives a damn about you? art. So, despite this being Heather Macdonald?s first solo show, don?t expect an adolescent rant.

The show on display in the Bermuda Society of Arts Onions Gallery is clearly a mature mind?s-eye view of the world.

Much like a good ?old-school? teacher of phonetics, this painter wants you to identify with the elements before asking you to understand the whole work.

Comprehending Macdonald?s presentations is easy. Just let yourself look as if peering through a prism ? a looking glass. You will find a world where vegetation takes on the likeness of feelings and colours the impressions of dreams.

Macdonald paints large and she should. Her need to say in no uncertain terms: ?yellow?, ?pink?, ?blue? and ?red? is great.

Her dynamism is alive with meaning which would lose some of its impact if it was reduced to a too personal or too intimate framework. She is an orator, not a therapist. Don?t expect a low humming mantra imposing itself on you in the background. is a luscious diptych filled with kaleidoscopic strokes of light reflecting colours. If ever you wander onto Hinson?s Island you can get a taste of what Heather has recorded. One of Hinson?s main paths is enclosed in a tunnel of thick greenery.

In the spring and autumn, that tunnel?s walls allow light to filter through more intensely. This diptych feels like a childhood (and child-like) reminiscence of such an experience. is one of Heather?s more realistic works. It gives off what the mind would probably have captured had you blinked a ?mind-photo shot? while speeding along South Shore on a scooter. It is an unusual view of the ?taken for granted usual? of Bermuda.

If memory is Heather?s way of looking at things, the colours she remembers are fresh, the focus disciplined, and the memory as warm as anyone could recall from such a scene. There is a golden light bouncing from sky ? to water ? to sand in the composition entitled which, despite blending intermittently with a variety of surface hues, surprisingly maintains its own integrity. In the composition you can feel Heather?s unobtrusive presence as she sits, well ensconced, in a front row seating of reedy grasses.

Heather?s works are like theatre, with all kinds of inter-linked themes being played out. For that alone her work is memorable.

As an aside, I hope that one day this painter will avoid ?Numbered Series? titling in her exhibitions.

There is too much feeling going on in her work. And it shouldn?t be depersonalised through series affiliations. Too many emotions being lumped together does not unity make. The individual integrity of every piece must be preserved, even when artwork is exhibited as a collection. certainly needs a better name. It is a strong indication that MacDonald is not afraid of broad-stroking her expressions in a most vibrant manner.

Though I?m not enamoured with the too loose foreground, the daring ?orange-peel tang? given off by a more disciplined candy-flossed sky is enough to save this piece. The composition is well heeled despite its rebellious cheekiness. is a giddy blast of colour. A kaleidoscope view of what you would find on a bright sunny walk along wilder parts of the Railway Trail. This composition reminds you of what the hogs would have encountered during their leisurely stroll through Devil?s Island undergrowth ? (before ?we? had a say in the landscape or jiggled hog-pennies in our change purse). The equilibrium in her profusion of colour reminds you of what you want your garden to be ? but can?t get the gardener to accomplish. (finally a title) is a glowing pleasure of dancing colours. The background is playfully joined to the foreground through a mystical cool grey ring ? luring the viewer in and out of an Edenic landscape ? as in a carousel ride. is another comfortable piece. Its soft sensuality is familiar. It isn?t pretentious. It simply feels good because we view it as a personal experience blessed by the hand of someone who empathises with our sentiments.

If Tom Thomson (1877-1917), the enigmatic member of theGroup of Seven painters, was alive today, he would be envious. He liked to tease saturated colour out of his landscapes and dissect light to study its impact on colour. As much as Thomson preferred his lines dark and his negative spaces laid out in strong contrasts of brights and darks, Heather?s compositions seem to reverse this technique as in a photo-negative of the same process.

But then, you suddenly get a feeling of a David Milnegone wild and you shake your head wondering what her sources really are.

That this first solo show, a debutante?s stepping out, is acknowledged ? but you can?t help but recognise that she is stepping out with attitude.

With the enigmatic wonders of Dan Dempster in the Edinburgh Gallery and the unadulterated freshness of Heather Macdonald?s show in the Onion?s Gallery, how spoiled can you get? This is definitely feast for the eyes month at the Bermuda Society of Arts. The show runs until April 6.