For a varied and colouful exhibition visit the Royal Cambrian Academy gallery in Conwy where the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) are showing works until 30 June. The RI has existed in various guises since 1831, and it's long history, honoured by the high standard of painting in this exhibition, has ensured that the medium of watercolour cannot be ignored.
And who could ignore Ronald Maddox's Land Forms, Capel Garmon, in which the artist has taken all the ordinary features of a piece of Welsh land (stone, grass, greys, greens, more grey) and created an extraordinary picture in whose undulating lines is expressed the feeling of being a part of the land.
Keith Andrew exhibits a few seascapes, but it is the landscape Dark Ridge, Cader Idris, which really catches the eye - the dark hulk of the mountain sits brooding on a warm buff-coloured ground with little detail to interfere with the elemental nature of the scene.
Altogether gentler and more lush is Hill Farm, Brecon Beacons (left), by Ray Evans. Here the influence of man on the land is the focus, and the interesting array of shapes and colour generate great aesthetic appeal.
It is not all landscape. Two of the artists explore architecture looking down very different avenues; Peter Folkes with his unashamedly cubist bridges and churches, and Catherine Brennand with her well-handled unusual perspective which involves standing just in front of the doorways of tall town buildings and painting the whole height of the building - a height emphasised by the vertically stretched format of her paintings.
William Selwyn is there too with his breathtaking and Turneresque Clywnog Fawr, where the grey shape of a church acts as an anchor in a sea of glowing light. It is painted in transparent layers to give that subtle and ephemeral beauty only found where detail is only hinted at. It is a transient moment - one can almost see the light beginning to change.
Other works to look out for are Maple, by Martin Caulkin, an image of a leaf in sombre browns which brings Durer to mind, and The Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, by Robert King, in which the paint is exceptionally well-handled to produce a painting similar to those of Brabazon.
With this abundance of talent and variety it is interesting to note that the original Society was set up in a climate where watercolour was not regarded as a serious medium for serious artists - a mode of thought still largely prevalent 170 years later despite high-quality and inspiring shows such as this one at the Royal Cambrian Academy.