My initial response to the Frank Dublin exhibition, currently on show at Common Ground Cafe, was that Frank was playing it safe.

Although his pastels and paintings are accomplished enough, it appeared to me, generally speaking, that he, in making this exhibition, was attempting to second guess what the public might most likely buy.

From conversations with various local artists, I understand that Mr Dublin's dilemma is not all that unique and far be it for me to suggest that good or maybe even great art could not possibly originate from this motivation, although my thinking is, that it is most unlikely. Still, I know that some of our artists, in attempting to earn a living, are caught in this trap and it is my view that, mostly, it holds them back from meeting their full potential.

In Mr Dublin's case, I remember a semi-abstract pastel he exhibited at a BNG Biennial several years ago, so I am aware of what he can do. That particular piece was so exceptionally creative, I wanted to see more like it. Part of a critic's responsibility is to prod artists to rise to greater artistic heights, so I hope that what I write about Mr Dublin's art, will be seen as coming from that quarter.

It was on a later visit to Mr Dublin's show, however, that I saw a pastel that stands out as exceptional. Since over the course of this show, the artist has added in new works, it could be that this is the reason why I did not initially notice it, or it could be, given this is a cafe, with people coming and going on a regular basis, that my viewing was interrupted by my not wanting to disturb the cafe's patrons.

At any rate, on my second visit, I did encounter, Tie Out, a pastel depicting a young shepherd girl, taking her sheep out to pasture. In conversation with the artist, I learned that this picture is about an experience he had, on a visit to his home island of Grenada. The shepherd girl, depicted in the pastel, was a neighbour that he met. He said that, every morning, quite early, before she had to go to school, she would lead the sheep to a particular pasture, where she would tie them out for the day and then, at the end of the day, she would return them to the sheep-fold. It is worth a visit to this show, especially to see Tie Out. It is that good.

Maybe I am being too hard on Mr Dublin. After all, the show is not a bad one and several new works, just recently added to the show, indicate something of the artist's stylistic explorations of artists such as the 18th century Frenchman, Chardin, or his 19th century compatriot, Paul Cezanne. Additional works in this series investigate the work of another French artist, Henri Matisse and also the Dutch artist, Mondrian.

The Common Ground Cafe is located in Chancery Lane, in Hamilton. The exhibition is curated by Susan Pearson, of Select Palette Art. I urge the public to see the exhibition for themselves and then decide whether I am right or not, in what I have written about the Frank Dublin show. It continues through December 15.