A show reflecting both Bermuda?s past and present opens this evening at the Masterworks Foundation.

The artist-in-the-garden, William Gringley, normally paints off-Island, but he has pulled from hundreds of slides to create his work.

The show ?Bermuda, Past and Present?, runs until June 29 in the Arrowroot Factory in the Botanical Gardens gallery.

?It?s Bermuda again, but it?s kind of like a transition from the last show,? Mr. Gringley said.

?I have did some other modern stuff and I have collaged a lot of my stuff together for this show.?

Mr. Gringley has produced many small paintings for this exhibition.

?I wanted to concentrate more on the small stuff, rather than the larger paintings, as it is a different way to paint when it is very tight,? he said.

?I collage it together to make a scene. This show has 14 or more small sized paintings, but normally I work larger.?

The artist said he enjoyed the change of pace for this show.

?I try not to think about style during the execution,? he said.

?I want the painting to have all the necessary points, colour, composition, gradation of shade perspective et cetera.

?Out of all the above, I find composition the most interesting as it?s the first stroke one makes. ?Style has a lot to do with the size and shape of a brush and consistency of the paint, once you know how to manipulate those factors you can make it look like anything.?

Some of the scenes of the past date back to Bermuda in the middle of the last century, while others reflect a more modern Island.

?Some scenes are old fashioned 1950s,? he said.

?While some are more unusual as in, I wouldn?t ever have thought to paint them until now. I start out with slides, as they are cheaper to develop and I?ve been taking and collecting them for over ten years so I?ve got tons.

?There are loads of old ones around, and they are such a great way to time travel.?

The artistic licence is the name of the game for Mr. Gringley.

?I collage up to three different slides, erasing anything that doesn?t work but more often painting in things that never were there.

?If you insist on copying a photographic image point for point you?re missing out on the whole reason why you are painting ? it?s to invent.

?It all about little choices. I want each painting to be its own show, if you can find a thread between the work then that?s the reward.?

The opening reception for the exhibition is from 5.30 to 7 p.m. For more information ( 236-2950.