solo show opens at Heritage House.

Byways II will feature the latest work of Maria Evers Smith and, apart from a few watercolours painted when she was in Vermont this summer, will concentrate on oil paintings of the landscape and flowers of Bermuda.

American-born Mrs. Smith, who is just completing her second year as President of the Bermuda Society of Arts, says she has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember. She began private lessons in art when she was only nine years old. Incredibly, however, she has only been working as a professional artist for the past four years. Now, she is a prolific painter of Bermuda's scenery -- and with 40 works in this show, is obviously making up for lost time.

This is her second solo show, but she has participated in several group exhibitions in Bermuda, England and the United States. In 1991, one of her paintings was selected as part of a Bermuda Society of Arts showing at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London. She is a trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery and serves on the Government task force for cultural tourism.

Her instinctive mastery of draughtsmanship (she has received no formal training) allied with a strong sense of colour has placed her in that very small group of people on the Island who may be termed `professional'.

She is philosophical about the long and sometimes roundabout route she had to pursue before realising her dream of painting professionally: "I think I knew, deep down, that it was my destiny. I always wanted to study art,'' she explains, "but, although my mother was an artist, my father wasn't too keen on my taking up art as a career. Being German, he was more into business than art, and he felt I should specialise in something that would provide a guaranteed income.'' So when she went off to college, it was to acquire a bachelor's degree in science, majoring in education. But fate stepped in when she came to Bermuda on vacation.

She met her husband, Bermudian Edward (Ed) Smith on a blind date and, as she puts it, "the vacation turned out to be rather a long one -- 32 years!'' The subsequent arrival of two daughters, Paula and Heidi, meant that her art career was placed on indefinite hold.

"It's hard to paint in that situation. You'll get carried away, painting furiously, and then the next thing you know, the kids have wrecked the house and husband is yelling for dinner. So for ten years, I really gave up painting.'' These days, her husband helps her in what she calls their cottage industry, a spin-off from her original artwork. Reproductions of her Bermuda landscapes are sold as cards and posters throughout the Island.

Currently, Mrs. Smith is also working on a floral design in china, for one of Bermuda's leading retail stores.

"Because it's so completely different from the fine arts world, I'm really enjoying the challenge,'' she says.

Not surprisingly, it is the Impressionist school of painting which has inspired Mrs. Smith's own work, the strongest early influence being Claude Monet. Recently, however, she has been increasingly fascinated by the work of Spanish impressionist Sorolla.

"I love his work because he painted the southern light of Spain which is similar to Bermuda.'' But, she says, "when I look at something, I see a picture in my mind and I always strive to paint that picture, and that's what keeps you going on to the next picture -- in the end, they are, I suppose, influenced by all the artists and teachers you have loved. Progress comes in very small stages, but I do see an improvement. Now, whether others see an improvement remains to be seen!'' For the past three years, Mrs. Smith has also acquired a reputation as a teacher.

"I don't really like calling myself a teacher, though. I get beginners going, to give them the fundamentals of how to handle paint and teach them how to see. As an artist, you have to learn to look at things in terms of values, light and shadow, hues, and how one colour sits with another. An artist has to learn how to really study an object. If you draw a tree from memory, for instance, it will look entirely different from the tree you draw after you've sat in front of it and studied it for half an hour.'' Mrs. Smith feels it is essential to develop a firm grasp on the technical aspects of art.

"I think it's difficult to abstract until you have a feeling for form and colour.'' It was while she was recently teaching a group of students at Palm Grove in Devonshire, that Maria Smith experienced a strange coincidence.

"I got talking to this woman and was absolutely astonished to discover that she was Dr. Priscilla Muller, curator of the Sorolla collection of paintings at the Hispanic Society of America.'' When Dr. Muller learned of Maria Smith's love of the Spanish artist's work, she arranged for her to have a private viewing of the magnificent mural panels in the Hispanic Society's headquarters in Spanish Harlem, New York.

"They are one of New York's hidden treasures, and you can only go there by appointment,'' she says.

As a result of this fortuitous meeting, Dr. Muller, who is recognised as one of the world's authorities on Sorolla, has been invited Smith to give a lecture entitled Sorolla, Sargent and Velasquez -- The Painters' Painters, on Friday, October 29. The event, which will take place in the Cathedral Hall, is being sponsored by Bacardi International and proceeds will go to the Bermuda Society of Arts.

This has been a busy year for Maria Smith, not least in her capacity as President of the Bermuda Society of Arts. Her term of office will be remembered as the year in which major renovations were made to the City Hall gallery. Besides re-arranging the entire layout of the large room, opening up the entrance way and providing extra office space, a smaller gallery was also established. This is used to exhibit members' work, for staging mini-exhibitions and as a retail outlet for art-related items.

"When City Hall became the arts centre of Hamilton, we felt it was really necessary to upgrade the facilities. It's not quite finished as we need more funding, but I was very fortunate to have Ed to help plan and advise on the alterations. We have had our usual shows and some workshops. I would have like to have done more on the cultural side, but I think the physical plant is also very important.'' As for advice for those who dream of a career in art, Maria Smith points out, "To be a serious artist takes one percent talent and 99 percent hard work.'' Byways II opens to the public at Heritage House on Friday, October 8.

SOLO SHOW -- An exhibition of the latest paintings by Maria Evers Smith opens at the Heritage House gallery on Friday.