The Windjammer Gallery's Spring Show will sadly be its last as the gallery is closing at the end of the month. A fixture of the Bermuda art scene for a quarter century and our most professionally run gallery for much of it, it was the creation of the late Susan Curtis, herself an artist of distinction. I am glad to be able to report that the gallery is not just fading away. Its last show is also one of its best.

On my list of important local artists missing from the Biennial I forgot Christopher Marson, a watercolorist of distinction. In the several years since I have seen his work he has refined his style of painting even more. Always spare, he has reduced his brushwork to an almost oriental point. The merest suggestion of a brush stroke carries immense weight in these works. 'South Road' is as simplified and spare as it can be without losing control. The light is white, as Bermuda?s light is except early and late. 'Wet Sunday' is achieved by the merest of suggestion, so reduced as to be almost an abstraction. There are four more of his watercolours that are equally splendid impressions. It is odd, then, that there should be an odd man out. 'Sound View Chimney' is far more solid and representational than his usual work and comes off as almost awkward in contrast.

I am not sure how long Christopher Marson has been painting in oils, but the obvious answer is not long enough. 'Paget Marsh, Morning Mist' and 'Old Gates' are minor triumphs of impressionism. Both manage to convey his characteristically gentle moods quite as well as his watercolours, but,obviously, with an entirely different style. I look forward to seeing more.

In absolute contrast is Bruce Stuart's work. His one point of consistency is in his tight, precise, exacting style of painting. Working in fast drying acrylic facilitates this style and the first of his works, 'The Garden Shed' is one of his best and was one of the first works to sell at the opening. He isn't afraid to launch into new styles and could be said, therefore, to be all over the place stylistically. There is, however, a group of four sunset paintings, as always in his tight, controlled manner, that I would place in the tourist-trap category. Another, 'Moonlit Bay', comes off as an early Hollywood film set.

Another artist who is unafraid to change styles is Maria Smith. 'Path to theBeach' is a burst of sunny, vivacious colour and pattern based on Bay Grape leaves and sand. This theme is repeated in 'Spring, South Shore'. Her odd man out is a small work, 'The Garden', which is as tight and fussy as anything by Bruce Stuart.

In a place like Bermuda the tourist-trap label is easy to throw around. Pink cottages, pink sand, pink oleanders, white roofs and white clouds are always with us. Pink and white is hard to avoid, but as a rule the effort should be made. Diana and Eric Amos, both showing together in this show, slip in and out of the pink and white mode with regularity. He used to concentrate on ornithological works and, as he has moved into landscapes his specialist eye for detail renders most of his work rather precise. Her style is much freer. On the other hand his "I've looked at the clouds..." is free and impressionistic. Together they coin a new adage: a family that paints together stays together.

Last, but obviously not least, is Sheilagh Head. She has half a dozen of her exuberant works in this show, all trending towards the abstract, but still with a subjective focus to control the work. Over the years Mrs. Head has come terms with Bermuda's light, She deals with it quite differently from any other artist and has learned to play on it as a great conductor might master a symphony orchestra. The play of light and colour in sea and sky melds into her near abstractions and yet resonates back and forth like individual instruments in a fugue. One feels that Mrs. Head paints fairly quickly and that experience has produced her mastery. Whatever the reason her works all enjoy a freshness and vibrancy, even when she paints almost the same favourite scene again and again. If I had to pick a favourite it would be 'South Shore Surf'. As I write I can turn my head and see another South Shore surf scene painted by Mrs. Head many years ago. The style has changed a bit, the quality remains as it has always been.

By herself Sheilagh Head is reason enough to make your way to the Windjammer Gallery while there is yet time. She is only the highlight in a very interesting show indeed.