A HOST of fish and sea creatures normally spotted around Bermuda's reefs comprise a new exhibit, Reef Roamers II, which opens at the Bermuda Society of Arts (BSOA) gallery at City Hall this evening.

Created from papier m?ch?, the three-dimensional and wall hanging sculptures showcase the talent of Janet Percy, a self-taught artist who began painting watercolours more than 20 years ago.

"It's the second show I've done called Reef Roamers," she explained. "I had the first in May of last year. In the past, I've done lots of watercolours of plants and flora. This is a new direction I'm taking my art in. I did really well with the first show - it sold out in the first hour of opening - (but) I've been experimenting since; trying different ways of doing fins and face details to get them as realistic as possible. I've concentrated on using more accurate colours of fish; I've tried to make more realistic and accurate shapes."

Mrs. Percy has achieved considerable success as an artist since she first began painting watercolours of plants and flowers in 1980 - a series of exhibits and noteable awards as well as commissions to provide illustrations for a book of short stories and various educational guides for the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo, followed. A ten-year break followed, but, after attending a papier m?ch? workshop, the artist found she truly enjoyed that medium.

Mrs. Percy first exhibited her fish sculptures in the November 2001 Members' show at the BSOA. Today, she has created more than 100 pieces from her small St. David's studio which may be seen in many private homes and the meeting rooms of the Zurich Centre on Pitts Bay Road.

"When I first began, I had all wall hung designs," Mrs. Percy said, "and at my last show, a lot of people asked for three dimensional pieces they could stand on coffee tables or book cases. When (an artist) is trying something new, the best way to develop is to just keep growing with it; to move on to other shapes and other ways of doing things with them. So for this year, I've made some three-dimensional ones which are free standing."

She spent six months working on Reef Roamers II, experimenting with new three-dimensional elements and perfecting her interpretation of Bermuda's marine life, Mrs. Percy said. The result is an exhibit of 29 wall hanging and three-dimensional sculptures of which she is extremely proud. The highlight of it all is Octavius II, an octopus whose creation was inspired by her grandson, Stephen.

"I was in California at Christmas," she explained. "My grandson knew I was doing work with papier m?ch? and he said he would like to do an octopus. We made one together. It took a while, but it was a lot of fun and I decided to do one of my own, Octavius II, which will be the feature piece of this show."

Because of their stormy relationship under the sea, Mrs. Percy decided that a lobster would provide the perfect artistic foil to the octopus she created. "Lobsters discard their shells as they grow. The shell comes off whole and if you're lucky, you can find one lying intact on the ocean floor. I knew a couple of people with actual lobster shells, but they didn't look good alongside my work so I decided to make my own.

"The difficult part is to capture the grace of the fish or the sea creature. Papier m?ch? is a lumpy medium to work in. I've tried to create their fins as thin as I could and I've put curves in their fins to suggest movement, but it is very difficult to capture the beautiful movement of a fish."

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