Although she is the first to admit that she has fallen for the unique charms of Bermudian architecture, Canadian artist Karen Kulyk believes that, if her vividly bright colours are anything to go by, she probably sees it in an entirely different way. Having spent three months here as Masterworks' latest Artist in Residence, the artist who has painted and exhibited in many countries around the world says, "The quality of the light here is amazing, and the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the exotic, as in the vegetation in gardens and agriculture, which is very unusual. And then there's this architecture which I find fascinating. So, when people say `oh, everyone paints that', my reply is, well, of course they do, but, presumably, the whole process of my coming here through Masterworks was to present my own vision of the Island.'' Ms Kulyk, whose work is found in galleries as far apart as North America, Europe, South America and the Far East, won the gold medal in the Treviso International Art Competition, Italy, in 1983, and has also illustrated two books, the latest being a collection of paintings of Darjeeling in India for a forthcoming book.

She has spent several years travelling back and forth to Bangkok, Thailand where she was also inaugural guest artist in residence and guest lecturer in fine arts at the Khon Kaen University. Her paintings were featured in a solo show at the Thai national gallery and, in 1984, she became the first Canadian to be represented in the Chicago International Art Exposition. Since then her work has been included in the Expositions of Los Angeles and New York.

Revealing that Masterworks acquired one of her paintings in 1994, Ms Kulyk says that she visited the Island in 1993 and her family have long been regular visitors. "When we first came for a week it was Christmas and, even at that time of year, I was captivated by the Mediterranean quality of the light in Bermuda. Ever since, I've been preoccupied in pitting the formality of the architecture against the wildness of nature -- the geometric which counterpoints the vegetation.'' Many of her pictures reveal quiet, private corners of the Island. "I don't paint on site -- especially as there seems to have been a lot of wind and rain during my stay here! I like to get my immediate response through sketching which I then turn into a colour canvas. In Bermuda, I am able to do this in a great studio that Masterworks has provided. It's big, light and unlittered, with a wonderful view and it's absolutely terrific for painting! I was told that Dockyard is `a long way away' -- but I told them it takes me that long to park the car in Toronto! But I must say I'm grateful for the ferry -- a wonderful way to travel!'' Her favourite medium is watercolour, although she also works extensively in chalk pastels. "I was in England just before I came here and the security people at the airport went through all my powder paints. This also happened in Thailand where they scraped off the pastels and ruined them by banging them about. So I decided to buy them here and leave them for when I next return but I couldn't find the type I like to use, so my Bermuda work is all watercolour.'' Her brilliant colours are achieved through layering. "I draw with a brush in one colour and then add others as I go along -- oil is the only paint I actually mix on the palette. I like the lines you can make with chalk where you are really drawing and painting at the same time. When I mix oil, I tend to mix yellows rather than white, which is more the French approach.'' Ms Kulyk is also the official artist for a Canadian winery and comments that she is all for `crossovers' in the world of art. "I can certainly equate a glass of beautiful wine with a painting, and I think there's an art in production of both. Similarly, I have a singer friend who talks of the `colour' of a voice -- you can use the same language to describe music, dance, art or writing! One day, I was struggling with the expression of `line' in a painting and I put on a video of Fonteyn and Nureyev -- there's `line' for you!'' During her stay here, she arranged for the visit of friends, the Baroque Players of Hamilton (Ontario). "Carolyn Sinclair, a soprano and Michael Jarvis, a harpsichordist, regularly `play' my paintings! What they do with sound, I do visually and we got played here together recently and it was very well received. We're hoping to return in the summer for a joint Masterworks/Menuhin venture. I think it's wonderful when there is a coming together of different forms of art.'' Paintings by Karen Kulyk will remain on show at the Masterworks Front Street gallery for the rest of this week.