ombinations of exhibiting artists are as varied as the colours in their palettes, but when the lights go up on a new show at the Bermuda Society of Arts? Onion (main) gallery this weekend, the spotlight will fall on a new duo: Lesa Stovell and Katherine Zuill. Neither are strangers on the local arts scene, of course, but this is their first joint exhibition, and marks the fulfilment of a promise made exactly one year ago when both were at the former Heritage Gallery, and discovered they were both artists.

?I loved Lesa?s art, but she was very shy about it,? Mrs. Zuill says.

?She was very encouraging to me and others about my work,? Ms Stovell remembers.

While both women share a mutual love of flowers, furniture and pretty things through their affiliation with interior design, and also enjoy a firm friendship, when it comes to their favourite medium they are at odds. Whereas Ms Stovell loves working in pastels, Mrs. Zuill dislikes them intensely. Instead, hers is a world of oils.

Lesa Stovell?s love of painting began at age five, yet she has only been painting seriously for five years, and was tutored by well-known pastel artist Sharon Wilson.

?Over the years I knew I wanted to do something with art, and it came to haunt me. Then I received encouragement to take some courses, and decided to work in a gallery. At the same time I studied with Sharon, and things started coming together, and before I knew it I was participating in exhibitions,? she says.

Her enjoyment in working with pastels is attributed to their versatility in creating colour, light and texture. Noting that not all brands are the same, she particularly likes those which are ?buttery and soft? for the finishing touches to a piece.

Landscapes and marine-themed subjects among the eleven works Ms Stovell will be exhibiting.

?There are a few scenes of land and sea with boats in a local harbour that I enjoy seeing each day,? she says. ?Some paintings reflect my visit to beautiful parks in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain. I was moved by the emotional appeal of the props displayed in the grounds, so I have enjoyed bringing that experience back to life in my paintings.?

Ms Stovell sums up her love of painting thus: ?The important thing for me is that I am expressing my creativity through art, and that brings a certain satisfaction. I no longer have to say, ?Lisa, you have got to do it?, I am doing it.?

Art is in Mrs. Zuill?s genes. Her father, William Kemble, was a successful artist, who was also a president of the Bermuda Society of Arts (BSoA), and her aunt, Mary Harriman, was a well-known American artist with her own gallery in prestigious Newbury Street, Boston.

Like her father before her, Mrs. Zuill began painting at age 55 when ?something came over me and said, ?Start? ?, although she says her love of ?making art and being in nature? began in earliest childhood.

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she is today a busy professional interior decorator who also has her own silk floral design business. As an artist, she paints both en plein air and in the purpose-built studio attached to her home ? often in the late afternoons, but definitely ?gung-ho? on Saturdays and Sundays.

Here, light streams in through the large windows, which also afford uninterrupted views of the surrounding gardens and thick, verdant vegetation ? scenes reminiscent of her American childhood.

Boston-born Mrs. Zuill grew up in the country north of the city surrounded by rolling fields and woods, which snow transformed into a winter wonderland, so it comes as no surprise that winter scenes are among her favourite subjects, as are ?onions, flowers, pears and big, expansive landscapes?.

As well, she is developing a body of work which pays close attention to her Bermudian surroundings and other areas discovered in her travels, including Ireland, Colorado and New Mexico.

Mrs. Zuill will exhibit some 30 oil paintings, including landscapes and botanic studies.

?My big, bold floral studies are a new departure into my version of Georgia O?Keefe,? she says.

Following an invitational preview opening on Friday evening, the Stovell/Zuill exhibition, entitled ?New Works in Oils and Pastels?, will open to the public on Saturday, October 29 and continue through November 16. For further information ( 292-3824.

An exhibition of new paintings by Paul Doughty in the BSoA?s Edinburgh Gallery also previews on October 28 and opens to the public on October 29.