It has been seven years since Stuart Outerbridge last held an exhibition of his work, but that will be rectified tomorrow evening when the self-taught artist's collection of Bermuda paintings opens in the Rick Faries Gallery at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

The owner of a commercial painting business, Mr. Outerbridge enjoys returning to the easel in his custom-built studio overlooking Harrington Sound whenever time permits.

His interest in art goes back to his school days at Warwick Academy when, at age 10, he won a fine Nikon camera for his picture depicting Road Safety.

Many years then passed before he took up painting again, and he has never had formal lessons.

Instead, he has always studied many books on various artists, including the great and lesser masters, and particularly the Impressionists – Bonnard, Cézanne, and Monet among them – whose style clearly influences his own.

Wherever Mr. Outerbridge and his wife Elise (the collections manager at Masterworks) travel, visits to museums are an itinerary "must", and he also photographs whatever catches his eye to be used later as an aide memoire for his paintings. In fact, the impetus for the current exhibition sprang from a Bermudian art lover who, on visiting his last solo show in 2001, which featured scenes of Italy and France, promised to buy his work when the artist painted Bermuda subjects.

Thus it is that the approximately 22 paintings in current exhibition are all of Bermuda, and include a mixture of familiar landscapes, buildings and flora captured around the Island, as well as a golf course.

The artist's chosen medium is oil on canvas, and he favours vibrant colours. He also prefers creating larger paintings, although this show will be a mixture of sizes.

Like many artists before him, Mr. Outerbridge admits he is never quite sure when a work is "finished".

"There always seems to be something else you can do to it," he says.

"Sometimes you have to get away from a painting and not work on it any more, then come back and look at it later. Then you realise it is finished and you don't have to do anything else to it."

Clearly proud of his self-built Bermuda stone studio, with its exposed beams, roof structure and sweeping water views, it is an ideal haven for the otherwise busy businessman to savour the plentiful light and sea breezes flooding in as he puts brush to canvas.

"To me, painting is life, and expressing yourself. Being able to be out in the open with my business allows me to come up with ideas, and I would paint en plein air if I had more time."

¦ The opening reception for 'Stuart Outerbridge – Bermuda' is from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow, following which the exhibition will continue through December 3.