New Heritage House ?Bermuda Bird,? is a finely executed watercolour by Marion Watlington-Vorley ? of a cockroach ? on a corner of a blue trimmed tablecloth. It leaves one wondering how she got her model. Sorry, it sold at the opening of the New Heritage House Gallery?s ?Beautiful Things Come in Small Packages ? The Small Picture Show 2003?.

The show is beautifully hung ? a challenge with thirteen artists in a small space ? with a good variety of work.

Dr. Watlington-Vorley has four other finely detailed, bold watercolours in the show including ?She Sells Sea Shells?, three very long and beautiful shells and an intense ?Coconut Palm?.

?Shadow of The Chimney?, is a watercolour by Diana Amos awash with purple shadows. The detail blurs off on the right and it is hard to tell if a watermark is intentional or accidental.

In ?Punt and Reflections in the Mangroves?, the boat looks like it?s waiting for someone to take it out for a row.

Christopher Marson?s ?Rainy Day,? is a subdued oil that works great at a distance. In this show he has a variety of close and more distant perspectives. ?Chimney, St. Georges?, fills the canvas, there?s also a bit of sky, palms and a bit of colour. A real treat in this show is three oil paintings by internationally collected, and shown, American artist John Terelak. ?Morning Haze? is a painting to relax into. Nothing is overly defined and his palette work is chunky with layers of brush strokes and suggestions of what is there. His seascape ?Astwood,? captures the mood of the ocean, especially at a distance.

There?s the usual variety in Eric Amos? paintings mostly close-ups with quirky titles. ?Standing Room Only?, is an acrylic road lined by punts standing on end with chickens strolling down the road with lovely shadows. ?One Dog & and his Man? is of a boat and includes a longtail. ?Hinson?s Island? is an oil on canvas by R.W. Trimingham. It?s looks like a nice place to live, in this perspective it is centred alone at sea with reddish water. In ?Winter Sunset at Coral Beach?, the sailboat on the horizon seems like a toy boat addition.

Christine Watlington excels at birds and flowers and there are some excellent watercolours in this show in her beautiful, fine style. ?Flitting Through?, is especially nice. ?Promised Spring? is a pleasant change from her usual compositions but the execution of the candelabra pales in comparison to the fine Bermudians in a framed painting in the background.

There are nine pen, ink and watercolour pieces by Emma Ingham-Dounouk ? all variations of roosters with distinctive red wattles. The titles ?Six Hens Feeding? and ?Hen Party?, suggest some gender confusion however. They are finely executed and well framed in black and red, but larger than the other pieces and too many of the same thing.

?Apple & Three Pears?, is a scrumptious oil by Kathy Zuill. Her seascapes capture the white splash of waves well but the rest of the ocean seems strangely calm. ?Irish Cottage? contains a great variety of yellowish grass in contrast with a blue sky.

Jackie Stevenson?s mostly abstract, mostly prints, are at the end of the room going clockwise. They quite different than the other work. ?Impressions? is a monoprint of a beach with slashes of purple sky and lots of white space. ?Companionship? is a monoprint of the back of a girl and cat looking at an abstract piece of art.

?Dinghy off Hawkin?s Island? and ?Racing on the Solent? are oils by Mark Boden, both c1900, and look like they are painted in the style of that time ? only the water isn?t muddy enough. But the sky and foliage are muted and they are well set off by mottled frames.

Ann Proctor?s watercolours of plants and flowers are simply titled, ?Plumbago?, ?Chalice Vine?, ?White Frangipani? and portrayed. These plants have attitude and jump out of the paintings in bold colours. They fill the white space without crowding.

Purplish light infuses several of Sheilagh Head?s paintings. In ?Saltus from the Field? City Hall is seen in the distance across a sea of roofs. ?Field in Somerset?, has dynamic, driving light energy. The sky is a subdued pale yellow, perhaps in reaction to the dynamism of the field. ?Beautiful Things Come in Small Packages ? The Small Picture Show 2003,? runs at the New Heritage House Gallery until the 2nd of January, 2004.

Bermuda landscapes abound in the Windjammer Gallery?s ?Miniatures for Christmas IV?, show. At a closer glance though, there is a pleasant variety of work.

In ?Changing of the Guard, Horn Rock?, by Eric Amos, a longtail seems to be flying out of the acrylic painting, while a companion longtail flies away. ?Swish, Devonshire Marsh? focuses on a rooster at the hind end of a horse. The composition is wonderful. There is another horse of a different colour, dappled light on grass and reflections in a pond. Each has a notably different composition. The only piece that hasn?t sold is a somewhat abstract computer generated collage. Almost matching Mr. Amos in different light qualities and composition is Sheilagh Head. The yellowish ?Southampton Evening,? contrasts with the various blues of ?Morning at Dockyard.? Her ?Somerset Bridge?, stands out as a different perspective than the usual treatment of this often painted scene.

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