This annual pre-Christmas show, now in its fifth year, has already become part of Hamilton's seasonal calendar of events.

The idea that small is beautiful is certainly not disputed, but perhaps the main fascination is seeing how well artists adapt to working in a more capsular form. There is often, also, a certain air of expectancy, for Heritage House presents the highly professional along with an intriguing mix of new talent.

This year, there seem to be more artists participating than ever before, with work from a total of 11 artists. Once again, aspects of Bermuda provide the overwhelming theme for almost every participant.

An exception was English artist Diane Elson, whose whimsical animal pictures have proved so popular in the past. Meticulously and humorously drawn in pen and watercolour, her work, often used as book illustrations, is crammed with amusing detail and would make an especially attractive addition to a child's bedroom.

Marine artist Stephen Card also displays a small, but exquisite composition of 18th century Cornwall, freer in style than many of his works and showing a Royal Navy cutter and sloop at anchor in a calm sea flooded with early morning sunlight.

Apart from these two, it is back to Bermudiana -- and it must be said that this show alone, confirms that within this rather insular framework, there is still a wealth of subject matter to be tackled.

Daniel Dempster, for instance, concentrates not only almost exclusively on the sea, but more often than not on the shallows, and his coloured pencils are used to great effect in portraying the ripple of wave and sand and reflecting the differing effects of high noon sun and moonlight.

There is a whole wall of Sheilagh Head's miniatures and while most of us are by now familiar with her smaller scaled oils, there is still a sense of pleasurable shock on seeing how triumphantly she succeeds in translating her very personal vision of Bermuda into a contracted scale.

She captures, as no other landscape artist working today, the spirit rather than the reality of place.

These small paintings reveal, perhaps even more than her larger works, her brilliant distillation of colour, so that the familiar view of Flatts is bathed in a pearly pink cool dawn, while St. George's Spring turns to a rich and shimmering palette.

Paintings such as Ferry Reach (which is actually a study for the larger work currently on show at the Winter Members' Show) and her House on the Hill also conjure impressions of spacious isolation.

Best of all, though, her miniatures provide a perfect medium for her genius in seeking out odd architectural angles or secluded corners rendered mysterious by deeply brushed shadows.

Margaret Dill also works well in the smaller vein, and her watercolours have a distinctly personal signature.

This year, she seems to have reverted to a slightly more formal style, with her views of Seabright at Devonshire Dock looking, for her brush, unusually restrained. The softer pinks of Lukin cottage, the pale ochre of Coralin and the solid perspective of St. John's Hill House show her at her best.

Rolondo Wilson is a newcomer who paints miniatures in oils. Rather highly coloured, and leaning toward photo realism, he shows a promising grasp of draughtsmanship.

His obvious talent should be encouraged and it is good to see him included in this show. Now he needs to relax his brush a little, so that spontaneity is not sacrificed for a methodically accurate eye.

He would do well, in fact, to take a long look at the next exhibitor, Ann Proctor: you can almost smell the heavy perfume of her Magnolia or bite the luscious Natal plums.

The deceptive simplicity of her watercolour compositions avoid the label of `botanical' paintings through the inspired use of fresh and luminous colours set against a stark white background. The effect is stunning and in this show she establishes herself as a rare talent in this genre.

The luxurious brushwork of Maria Evers Smith's landscapes are also skillfully transposed into the smaller frame. Chickens in Yard gives the impression of a panoramic view of a cottage wreathed in sunlight, as does the tiny, yet sparkling view of Church Bay. But the two gems on this occasion are Morning Mist, where wild flowers dance through billowing grasses and The Garden, where a sun-hat reposes in a wicker basket and a haze of pink -- a lovely study of composition and colour.

Molly Smith goes from strength to strength, this time with a series of softly watercoloured landscapes. The warm pinks of Fanny Fox's Cottage contrast with the beautifully understated, almost washed-out colours of her Tuckers Town Beach and the Cottage by the Sea.

There are five rather lovely gouache studies of Bermuda flowers by Mary Brown, unusually and effectively painted on bluish-grey paper and lastly, five small paintings by Louise Conyers. While still tentatively feeling for correct technical perspectives, there is a real charm in these watercolour sketches, the most promising, perhaps, being her impressions of Longford House and Red Hole. -- Patricia Calnan.

`CARRICK ROAD', Falmouth 1795 by Stephen Card.

`FERRY REACH' by Margaret D. Dill SHEILAGH HEAD: A pleasurable shock.