If you entered the Edinburgh Gallery at the Bermuda Society of Arts without any foreknowledge of Theresa Airey?s artwork ? confusion would be a reasonable reaction.

The show is called ?Dreamscapes?.

Moving clockwise around the gallery the first three pieces look sort of like typical Bermuda watercolours. ?

The Taylor House?, ?Waterloo House? and ?Crow Lane, Paget? are actually pastel renderings of digital photographs.

It gets stranger and stranger from there. The next hand-coloured digital prints have an other worldly feel to them. ?Jobson?s Cove,? on a stormy day, (or was that changed?) looks a bit like an old-fashioned hand-tinted postcard.

So, is this art actually new, or more of a retro step?

For those wishing to ponder these issues, as well as look at the art, Ms Airey?s books, ?Creative Photo Printmaking? and ?Creative Digital Printmaking? (both by Amphoto) are available to peruse.

?Reflections of Waterlot Pier,? has an eerie quality, as if there is something lurking in the water.

The colours are vivid and the reflections suggest more than is there. In ?Fountain in Palm Gardens,? it is difficult not to be clich? and describe it as a fairy world.

It looks like fairies might be lurking in the foliage. Aerial roots of rubber trees are fascinating, especially those of, ?Southland Lane.?

The colouring adds to the feeling that there is something special down that lane, if only you would allow yourself to be drawn in. The lane curves enticingly, but the dark clouds suggest all might not be well if you venture down. It?s amazing what Ms Airey can do with a palm tree.

?Big Palm Tree in Palm Gardens,? glows with a glorious crown of light against a black sky with peach tinted clouds.

?Backlit Palm Trees,? says it all. ?Statue at Tupenny,? contains a wonderful contrast between darkness of stone against greenery.

Other worldly as the hand-tinted prints seem, they are nothing compared to the infrared prints. One of the things infrared does is capture the photosynthesis of plants.

The images are all in various shades of black and white, foliage in direct sunlight is white indeed, but not as white as a well-painted Bermuda roof.

In ?Perfumery? it actually looks like everything is covered with snow, which is a lot of fun for Bermuda.

Another take of the same image is darker with everything more defined and not as ?snowed? on.

The same ?Jobson?s Cove? image as the pastel rendering is also captured in infrared.

Although devoid of colour it seems to suggest colour, or perhaps it is an imprint from looking at colour images first.

It is nice having the colour on one wall and the black and white on another. ?God beams at the unfinished church,? blasts a Godforce energy into the ruins with the palms reflecting the glory.

It suggests the admonishment ?take off your shoes, you are standing on holy ground.?

Infrared imagery seems to be especially suited to accentuate cedar as illustrated in ?Cedar Gate in Palm Gardens?.

Ms Airey uses a different technique with ?Waterpump at Palm Gardens? to make the infrared image look like a sketch ? but one that glows.

Curved paths are central to many of the images, adding to the dream like quality as well as dark clouds in contrast with all whiteness and light. Ms Airey writes that Bermuda has the perfect conditions for infrared photography: ?A deep blue sky, preferably with white clouds, bright full sun and high temperatures.?

The final print is ?The Skull,? an eerie cemetery with raised graves, under one is a skull, above it a dead cedar and in the background leafless frangipanis.

?Theresa Airey ? Dreamscapes,? runs in the Edinburgh Gallery of the Bermuda Society of the Arts until January 8, 2004.