AN exciting mix of traditional and contemporary paintings goes on display at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock this weekend.

Elford Fine Art's Easter Exhibition brings together a superb selection of original works, including scenes of West Devon and East Cornwall, by distinguished artists of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

A fine watercolour painted more than 100 years ago shows a sailing barge passing Morwell Rocks on the River Tamar near Calstock.

The picture is by Philip Mitchell, a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, who lived from 1814 to 1896 and specialised in landscapes and coastal scenes in the South West.

John Baragwanath King (1864 - 1939) painted views of Dartmoor and its hamlets.

His watercolour of the River Walkham shows children pausing on Huckworthy Bridge near Walkhampton. The cottages in the picture are still there today, but the tall pine trees have long since gone.

The exhibition includes several other Dartmoor scenes, notably by Frederick John Widgery and Charles Edward Brittan Junior, who could literally step on to the moor from his home at Sheepstor to spend the whole day painting.

One of his works on display captures a scene just before dusk and has been inscribed in the artist's own hand: 'Afterglow below Princetown'.

The event also features a collection of pictures — in pastels and acrylics, as well as oils and watercolours — by some of the most accomplished contemporary artists from Britain, continental Europe and America.

These include Alain Bellanger, a French painter who specialises in highly distinctive images of colourful fruits and vegetables, and Steven Thor Johanneson, who paints strikingly beautiful watercolours of Cornish coves.

Complementing the pictures is a selection of sculptures by Rosemary Cook, whose lifelike studies of dogs have earned her recognition throughout the world.

The exhibition, at The Bedford Hotel, Tavistock, is open on Good Friday, April 9 (midday to 6.30 p.m.) and Saturday, Sunday and Monday, April 10, 11 and 12 (10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.).

For further details telephone 07712 137272 or visit http://www.elfordfineart.co.uk">www.elfordfineart.co.uk