trip to Santa Fe in New Mexico is the inspiration behind his latest show, for Masterworks, which opens at their Bermuda House Lane gallery off Front Street on June 23.

Entitled `Brush Strokes and Wood Cuts', Mr. Stuart says this show is something of a new departure for him.

"There will be some Bermuda pieces, but I've actually gone back to my `cut-outs' -- which is how I started out! This time, though, there's a new twist. The emphasis is on texture, using a lot of sand. For example I have done a cedar door with two stone posts on each side, which are worked up texturally to look like stone, and using a very flat treatment with the door which gives a three-dimensional effect.'' He emphasises that his main output for this show is a collection of "huge'' oils of rock paintings, using "big'' colours, along with some abstracts.

"I have not been painting for a living for 15 years, so this is in the way of a little celebration,'' he explains. "I still feel I am growing and I'm glad to say my style is still changing. As I was a trustee of Masterworks for six years, I was happy to do this show.'' His next main exhibition will be for the Windjammer Gallery in November. Just returned from another one-man show at the West Harbour Gallery, Oyster Bay, on Long Island, Mr. Stuart says he was gratified by its reception.

"It's in a very beautiful and wealthy area -- people like Steven Spielberg live there, and there was a huge turnout of people for the opening.'' After his show opened he went to Santa Fe in New Mexico, an area immortalised by famed American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and an area that seems to have smitten Bruce Stuart -- along with hundreds of other artists.

"The scenery there blew my mind. The desert, with wonderful, strong colours, just goes on and on, like the ocean -- and you never see a soul. The exact opposite of Bermuda! All you see are these massive mountains, way off in the distance, and it's dry and boiling hot!'' Noting that Santa Fe has a population of only around 60,000, he says there are about 150 art galleries there. "So if people think that Bermuda is doing well ... Also, in nearby Taos, which is even smaller, there are about 90 galleries.'' He is thrilled to report that one of the leading galleries in Santa Fe, Christine's, has already taken eight of his paintings and have asked for more.

"I shot about 20 rolls of film out there. I felt a great affinity with the place. Adobe architecture is just wonderful -- walls of mud and straw, finely packed together, so in a way, it's a bit like old Bermuda. And, just like Bermudian architecture, it has become indigenous to the landscape. It makes you feel that you are a part of it, and it is a part of you.'' He points out that Santa Fe and Taos have been art `meccas' for more than 100 years.

"What amazed and pleased me is that everyone there was so genuinely interested in Bermuda and wanted to hear all about us and the art we have here.'' Bruce Stuart's `Brush Strokes and Wood Cuts' runs at the Masterworks gallery from June 23 through July 6.

BRUCE STUART -- The local artist is pictured at the opening of his one-man show at Long Island, New York held in April.