Impressionism, by my understanding, is an attempt to catch a precise moment in the movement of light - the study of how light affects and changes objects and how that light changes under different conditions.

When I first arrived in Bermuda not so long ago it was the light that first struck me. From the moment I stepped foot off the plane I can remember how brilliant the light was, how warm the atmosphere of the place felt. A hundred years ago the French Impressionists may have loved the light of southern France but how many of them visited Bermuda? But while a fresh faced visitor escaping from the damp blanket of an English sky might be at first dazzled by the Island's unique atmosphere how do more experienced eyes see it? Well, if this show is anything to go by, familiarity has not faded the eyes of some of Bermuda's more experienced painters. Some works stand out for particular attention.

John Kaufmann's Green Door is a wonderfully simple acrylic study that nevertheless strikes the viewer with its brilliance and clarity.

It's amazing how Kaufmann cleverly manages to produce such a painting using a very dull palette -- a few imposing blues, some dark greens and a big slab of white. His technique is also very sketchy, almost clumsy on close inspection, with edges blurring into each other and chunks of canvass showing through in several places.

Yet these ingredients some how manage to produce a painting that is full of warmth, contrast and sharpness. Great stuff.

Maria Smith is apparently trying out a new experimental style for this show -- always a brave thing to do in public.

It's a shame that the first picture you see in the exhibition is her The Harbour which, for me at least, doesn't really work. The same can be said for Yellow House, Blue House. In both cases the whole effect is very disjointed and the central objects lack any suggestion of volume or weight.

But around the corner you will find two further studies by Ms Smith, King Street, and St. Georges, both of which are more successful. King Street in particular conjures up a rich, warm atmosphere yet doesn't stand out as being too exaggerated or lurid in its use of colour.

Another artist who seems to have had mixed success is Diana Amos. I know nothing of Amos's work but I get the suspicion that oil paint is not her favourite medium. A couple of her paintings, notably Angel's Trumpets and Foot of the Harbour reminded me of the sort of thing you'd expect from a thirteen-year-old who'd just been given his first set of paints.

I couldn't put my finger on it but the buildings in her paintings just looked "wrong''.

Her SouthShore Impression, a larger acrylic, is a bit more successful, perhaps because it is more abstract.

Diana Tetlow's main contribution to this exhibition is a series of flower studies. But the one painting that really catches the eye is her skyscape Gibbs Hill Lighthouse a wonderfully loose and dramatic study of the view from Tetlow's home.

Sheilagh Head's landscapes never fail to inspire and her contributions in this show are no exception. They seem almost to have been casually produced yet always remain accomplished.

Of her five pictures in the show Somerset Garden was my favourite, conjuring up the wonderful atmosphere of an overgrown garden on a balmy summer's day.

Susan Curtis's painting were also all of a high standard and stood out from the wall of turquiose seas and pastel coloured houses. Storm over the Lubernon and Poppies and Purple Vetch conjured up a wonderful atmosphere.

Perhaps the Windjammer Gallery could do with an extra room or maybe the organisers were too ambitious when considering how many works they wanted to display. Either way I felt that most of the canvasses were crammed too closely together, each one jostling for space. This can be quite tiring on the eyes and I left with a feeling similar to that of having gorged myself on something a bit sickly.

Nevertheless the exhibition contains one or two delightful paintings. I'm just not too sure if I would be able to fork out a couple of thousand dollars for one of them. How do artists know what price to put on their work? Do they all get in a huddle before the opening and decide on some sort of scale? Most paintings fall into a familiar price bracket, the general rule seems to be the bigger the canvas the higher the price. But someone should ask.

The exhibition runs through the Christmas holiday period.

-- Gareth Finighan