The Edinburgh Gallery City Hall, Hamilton Molly Critchley's trade mark as an artist is her pastel-tinted watercolours of Bermudian scenes. Well if that's what you're expecting here you're in for a bit of a shock.

The collection of more than 30 watercolours and oils comprises a mish-mash of still lives, portraits, landscapes and sheer fantasy, proving that there are no limits to the broad sweep of Ms Critchley's brush.

And neither are all scenes local. As the artist points out in a helpful bio that accompanies the programme, a tour of the Australian outback made the artists feel "profoundly moved by the innocence and spirituality of the Aborigines''.

But is it any good? Judging by the number of pieces that have already been sold (the show opened last Friday and will run until the end of next week) the viewing public certainly seems to think so.

Alas, this reviewer really can't make up his mind about this one.

There's another paragraph in the bio that is also revealing: "The Great Masters, in particular the works of Fra Angelico and Botticelli, have influenced the artist. Thus her work is full of the influences which were treasured during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance -- good draftsmanship (sic), composition and colour sense.'' Ms Critchley adds she received a classical education "under the tuition of a superb faculty at the Fine Arts Department at Mount Allison University''. But much of the work here fails to substantiate the claims.

Certainly there are references to the likes of Botticelli and Raphael but they are more inept stylistic imitations than anything else.

So many of the still lives -- although not all -- fail to show a mastery of basic draughtsmanship. Indeed works such as `Veggies' and `Fresh Brown Eggs', `Loaf of Homemade Bread' and `A Favourite' appear to be the work of some lower-grade student still coming to grips with basic observation.

Figures which appear in watercolours such as `Polishing Brass at St. Peter's' and `Wild Horse and Koalas' are anatomically incorrect, while you'd have thought some landscapes such as `The West End' were painted by some thirteen-year-old schoolgirl with her head in the clouds -- a bit twee and naive and lacking in technical skill.

While the use of colour in `Ayres Rock' does well to depict the glowing-ember quality of the landscape, the composition is naive and fails to illustrate the sublime enormity of the rock.

Perhaps most damaging of all is a pen and watercolour portrait of `John' which reveals more than anything the artist's inability to depict the various textures and forms of hair, eyes and flesh.

But there's a paradox here, with other drawings contradicting the majority.

`17th Century Ruin in Somerset' is a charming pen and ink study, `A Subterranean Swim' echoes the work of William Blake and `The Aborigines' is light and playful.

Critchley `shows some promise' `Guardian Angel' is a gracefully and elegant composition.

In the larger scale oil paintings one can see references to the likes of Botticelli -- from a compositional and colour sense -- and not surprisingly these are perhaps the stronger pieces.

The colour in `This Blessed Isle' is rich and luminous while `Winter Magic' is a Narnia-esque scene full of charm and innocence which is also skillfully executed.

`The Three Graces -- Art, Music and Poetry' is reminiscent of Botticelli's `Primavera'. But if one looks closely, once again the painting illustrates Ms Critchley's technical deficiencies. The eyes of the three figures are dead, the hair lank, the figures clumsily depicted. Graceful they ain't.

So all in all a mixed bag with one or two pieces that are delightful and an awful lot that isn't.

If Ms Critchley was an eighth grade student and I were her teacher I'd be tempted to write: "Shows some promise'', on her report card. One would expect more from a classically trained artist with decades of experience under her belt.

Hat trick: One of Molly Trapnell Critchley's works now on exhibit.