Avon Valley Arts Society is hosting an exhibition of drawings and paintings by members of the Merredin Fine Art Society until the 27th of March.  This vibrant exhibition of mostly pastels makes for interesting viewing because of the diverse handling of the medium.

Anne Sutherland's My Territory shows a traditional and expert handling of pastel with loads of character and beautiful tonal control.  Val Tengvall's Kettle Glow presents an excellent textural rendition of delicate fabric against the metallic copper kettle. Poppies On Blue, a freer pastel and watercolour by Rosemary Lambert, is a delightfully refreshing interpretation of the ever popular poppies capturing their delicate nature whilst retaining their strength of colour.  The same can be said of two miniature watercolours by Ana Nail, particularly Angela's Rose with its light touch and beautiful control of this medium.

Nell Crees's Colour Red is a delicate linear pastel drawing despite the strong colour and the animal pastels by Gail Law show a 'cheeky' quality.  Lorraine De Lacey's sketchy handling of pastels with her very light touch can be appreciated more from a distance.  So too Mary Mullane's painting of oil applied with a palette knife which shows an interesting use of tints for a very strong subject matter, creating a mystical strength.  Apple and Lemons by Beryl Semple is an unusual still life arrangement using strong primary colours with a lovely handling of the fabric, which again benefits from a more distant viewing to obtain the maximum effect.

The only black and white work in the exhibition is Phil Ivey's detailed piece depicting the textural qualities of the rural scene.  This contrasts very well with the detailed oil Open Garden Day by Jo Millington, which is a riot of colour.  Also using very strong colour is Val Curtis in her mixed media Flower Fantasy an exciting treatment of a still life vase of flowers.  Curtis incorporates abstract qualities with strong design elements in rich gold and greens.

Overall this is a very powerful exhibition that captures the strength and colour of the rural environment as well as its  gentler aspects with, in general, an expert handling of the media used.