HELEN RICHMOND'S painting style is straightforward and realistic, though not academic realistic, with a strong sense of emotional involvement rather than of passive onlooking. She tends to aim high, resulting in some broad, panoramic landscapes such as You and I, in which a broad rocky hillside towers over two small lakes. Here there is a feeling both of personal feeling and of careful observation.

These large pictures are highly ambitious concepts, and some of them simply do not come off (to put it as bluntly as possible), though all have good features or "live" areas. The pictures of water and lilies somehow gave me a feeling of having been derived from smaller sketches or studies. But the large set pieces in general have a courage and sense of adventure, and all are boldly planned.

Some of the best and most convincing achievements are in the pastels on paper, which record "nature" themes moon rise, a riverbed, trees with a poetic eye as well as a keen one. I could have done with more of them, since they are a lesson in how spontaneity can be its own reward.