Jennifer Lawson ExhibitionThe Jennifer Lawson watercolour exhibition at Masterworks’ Rick Faries Gallery, exudes old-fashioned charm; indeed, there is something Victorian about her work.I put it that way, for although the depiction of her subject matter the Bermuda landscape and especially her concentration on St George’s with its old, flower-laden walls reminds of 19th century English landscapes, her watercolour techniques are more modern and in that respect her paintings recall those of the English painter, Winifred Nicholson.In a recent letter to this newspaper, Ms Lawson wrote about the incredible beauty of Bermuda and particularly the antiquity of St George’s, with its “gorgeous houses and their inimitable chimneys”, plus the play of light on walls, streets, etc.When an artist finds a subject that corresponds with their way of working, as clearly is the case with this artist, that is a powerful combination.Ms Lawson comes to us from the island of Vancouver and, as she has suggested in her letter, out there in western Canada, a building over 100 years old is ancient.She is here in Bermuda as Masterworks’ artist-in-residence.Interestingly, the apartment for Masterworks’ visiting artists is located in St George's, which is certainly old in comparison to anything she is used to in British Columbia.Although all the paintings in her show are watercolours, I detect two different ways of using this somewhat difficult medium.In most of her paintings she uses transparent watercolours, but by means of a very personal application of daubs of different colours that often mingle together in a technique called wet in wet.As the different colours mingle together, the edges appear soft or diffused.In at least one of her floral paintings, however, the artist mixes aquarelle with gouache.By aquarelle, I mean, transparent watercolour, whereas gouache is opaque.A few of the works in the show strengthen the structure of the composition by utilising ink drawings combined with varied watercolour washes.Unlike the softer paintings described above, these line-and-wash paintings are crisp in comparison.There are in total, 36 paintings in the show, 17 being from around St George’s.About 20, including most of the St George’s works, include depictions of flowers, with four being purely floral studies.Three picture ferrel chickens while the rest are of miscellaneous subjects from other parts of the Island.Interestingly, there are no beach scenes in this show.I am particularly interested in how Jennifer Lawson presents her paintings.All are framed, but with each, she selected a frame that most suited the picture; consequentially, from picture to picture, the frame mouldings are quite varied.You might think that with such a variety of picture frames, they would visually clash. Surprisingly, they don’t.Considering that the pictures are also varied in size, when combined with all these other differences, astoundingly, the show somehow manages to hang together harmoniously.It helps that the show is hung in small, related groups with some empty wall space between each group.The exhibition ended yesterday.