GILL Douglas has defied shoulder problems to complete 25 new works for Spirit Of The Islands, her tenth anniversary exhibition at the Treasurer's House, in York.

"It seems a long journey from my first exhibition here, Intimate Views, with lots of interiors and 'barnscapes' and not a wave in sight, to this show ten years on," she says.

"My painting has changed, consolidated, expanded and at times totally flipped out in different directions. These changes have been moulded by a necessity to produce new work and a background of ill health.

"Isaiah talks of God giving us 'the treasures of darkness and the hordes in the secret places', and much of my work has been formed in those secret places. It is only by God's grace that the paintings and I are here today."

Gill has been unable to get away to the islands during the past year, but views of Skye, Iona, the Summer Isles, Little Ross, and a return to Lindisfarne nevertheless form her latest works for sale.

"I'm afraid you haven't been able to drag me away from painting my beloved islands this year," she says in her newsletter. "Battling with the noise and heat of my studio in Petergate, and equipped only with copious sketchbooks and photographs of past travels, I was, like H E Bates, 'struggling with the udders of imagination that the milk might come down'.

"They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I hope that as a result I've been able to grasp something of the spirit of these wild and wonderful places."

Gill passed a significant milestone earlier this year: her 60th birthday. "Respect!" she jokes. "Although I'm not planning on retiring yet, I'm not sure how many more exhibitions I have left in me (they say many artists produce their best work in their latter years). At least one more show, I hope, as I have again been invited to exhibit in the Norman Rae Gallery, Langwith, University of York, for three weeks from February 21 next year."

Spirit Of The Islands runs until October 31. Opening hours are 11am to 4.30pm daily, except Fridays (closed all day), and admission is free.

Updated: 08:21 Friday, October 08, 2004