Paintings by Helen Daniel, Margaret Downing Dill and Robert Steinmetz -- Windjammer Gallery -- until May 6.

Three artists, each with their own perspective on the Bermuda scene are currently on show in a group exhibition at the Windjammer Gallery.

This scene, as almost always, is, in essence, a somewhat idealised view of our Island where vistas of verdant fields and flowers, olde-worlde streets and pristine shore lines are, in fact, rapidly disappearing for ever.

In one sense, of course, this has placed Bermuda artists in the rather unexpected role of heritage chroniclers, capturing this and that architectural gem or leafy lane before it, too, is bulldozed away. There have been many artists over the past 30 years or so who have undoubtedly helped to awaken a generally indifferent public to the alarming rate of destruction of our natural beauty, and usually justified in the convenient name of `progress'.

This trio of artists -- Helen Daniel, Margaret Downing Dill and Robert Steinmetz -- follow in this sterling tradition and, amazingly, are still managing to find some hitherto undiscovered gems of their own.

Perhaps the most interesting artist in this particular show, in that this is his first Bermuda exhibition, is Mr. Steinmetz, an American who has been a part-time resident of the Island for some 20 years. While a strong architectural background is always evident in his excellent draughtsmanship, he also imbues his work with a firm solidity without resorting to regimentally straight lines.

Strictly, almost breathtakingly representational (at first glance I thought several of his works really were photographs), he is a fine colourist who reveals a deep understanding of the effect of light. This is especially apparent in his Path from the St. George's Club and his St. George's Street, where the sunlight takes on a warm golden glow and the deeply brushed shadows almost pulsate with heat.

Southlands Monolith, with its huge stone pillar standing sentinel before a path that meanders darkly into a tree-shrouded estate, is perhaps the best example of the way this uncompromising realism is relieved by a deeply felt sensitivity.

Since her arrival two years ago, Helen Daniel's work has been well exposed: the initial shock of her brilliant gouache colours may have worn off somewhat, but this should not detract from the celebratory quality that is strikingly rooted in her textile design background. Her work sometimes tends towards a smallish scale which seems to make her jewel-like colours even more dramatic.

As a colourist, she obviously delights in the myriad shades of green on this Island, as in her beautifully realised Lime Tree which spreads like a giant fan against a sea of grass and foliage, and her series of banana trees.

There is a slightly different direction in her floral studies, the first a panoramic view of the gardens of Locust Hall and then a close-up of its spring snapdragons. This panorama effect is also explored in two further trios of sea vistas, a sort of up-date on Thomas Driver's early watercolours, but with a predominant and surely rather hectic use of blue.

Pictures selected by Margaret Downing Dill were something of a puzzle in that they included none of her magnificent still lifes. Then it transpired that her works in this show were mainly originals of watercolours to be used for Windjammer's 1997 calendar. As such, they are rather more primitive and certainly technically simpler than her more recent, bolder style.

She certainly has an eye for the unusual, the hidden nooks far off the tourist track, as in the pastoral view of Daniel's Head Farm, Glebe Road, or her scene of Picking Carrots. Her reputation for capturing the uniqueness of local architecture is quite secure and most perfectly revealed in this show in her softly brushed version of Stuart Hall in St. George's. -- Patricia Calnan DANIEL'S HEAD FARM -- A watercolour by Margaret Downing Dill.