*** With her own gallery and prints selling in every shop Sharon Wilson is one of Bermuda's most successful artists and her work needs little introduction.

She describes herself as "a daughter of the soil'' and certainly her drawings have an undeniably intrinsic quality, being very much a product of the Bermudian environment.

That said, perhaps one of the reasons for Ms Wilson's success is that she does not resort to cliche.

Her focus is not so much the Bermudian landscape but rather the Bermudian spirit. It is the character of a people rather than the backdrop in which they live which interests her and as a result pink cottages and turquoise seas are not the dominant theme.

The 17 pastels in this show do not widen the boundaries of Ms Wilson's view.

There is nothing that breaks the mould, nothing different from what you would expect to see, nothing that startles.

But then, why should there be? While this show might be predictable it also contains much to delight so why change a tried and tested formula? Ms Wilson is at her best when depicting the human form, either in figure studies or portraits, and there are some good examples of her work here.

`Artie Black, Bermuda Day, 1998' is a wonderfully stoic image, made vibrant and alive by Ms Wilson's handling of her medium.

She has an ability to convey the intimate moment, to unobtrusively catch the sitter unawares. In pastels such as `Whitney with Flute' and `Child with Mirror' the subjects do not appear awkwardly posed or self conscious but are relaxed and natural, almost unaware that the artist is studying them.

This ability is complimented by Ms Wilson's technical mastery. Obviously an extremely competent draughtswoman, she also has a wonderful sense of colour and composition and draws in a loose and confident manner.

Her technical skill is perhaps best illustrated in a few of her simpler studies.

`Cricketer' and `Cricketer Rookie and Coach' are alive and vibrant, magically capturing both the movement of the athletes and the heat of the cricket field by simply using a few blocks of white on coloured paper.

It doesn't always work. `Picnickers Eating Watermelon' seems to have been done in a hurry and Ms. Wilson seems to lose some of her basic draughtsmanship when depicting landscapes, four of which are on display here. That said, `Devonshire Church' is perhaps one of the strongest works here, with a wonderful sense of atmosphere.

This show doesn't have that much longer to run but Ms Wilson has her own gallery just off Horseshoe Bay at 2, Turtle Place, Southampton. On this showing I'd say it was well worth a visit.

GARETH FINIGHAN ARTISTS ART