VARIETY is the spice of . . . That might be an alternative title for the eye-catching Christmas exhibition at Big Wide Bay — Tavistock's contemporary art gallery — which is called A Painting Is For Life . . .
Many of the paintings are landscapes, or essentially figurative, yet the range of styles and the quality of the work selected from nine notable Westcountry artists means there is something for almost all tastes.
Douglas Hill, leading en-plein-air painter in St Ives, has four beautiful oils in the show, as does the versatile north Devon artist Colin Allbrook.
Hill's beach scene, A Summers Day, and Allbrook's unframed By The River, are arguably the pick of this exhibition.
The expressive, texture-driven paintings of Charlotte Gunn and Steve Slimm, depicting coastal and moorland scenes from Dartmoor to Land's End are visual statements with appealing doses of emotion.
If watercolours are your bag, check out two excellent John Hoar pieces here, of Venice's Grand Canal and moorland in Connemara.
Exotic Cuba is the inspiration for some intriguing oil paintings by Nick Williams.
Big Wide Bay at 14 Market Street, Tavistock, is open daily except Sunday until Christmas. This show continues until January 12, Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 5.30pm.