ONE of the region's finest artistic talents has returned to the exhibition trail with a new show at Coniston's Ruskin Museum.

Forces of Nature by Tiana Marie runs until November 24, an exhibition of of watercolours and mixed media paintings celebrating John Ruskin's bicentenary year, exploring the forces of nature and the elements of life: earth, air, fire, water and ether.

Born into an artistic family in South Lakeland, her first solo exhibition was at Brantwood in 1983 and she was mooted by The Times as "one of the Lake District's most promising young professional artists."

Highly thought of as a painter of Nature's elemental power, since, she has exhibited far and wide and created some of the most stunning paintings capturing the inherent wonder and spirit of the region's landscape. Her brushstrokes have an other-worldly filamentous glow that spins and weaves its way throughout her work.

Back in her home county from Somerset, where she had been holding residential holidays for artists, Tiana says that John Ruskin has always been an influence on her artistic practice as a painter of the force of nature: "His way of seeing the natural world not only as an observer, but with a poet’s soul, has been an inspiration to me and a guiding light to the heart of things. He helps the viewer to ‘see clearly’ both the seen and the unseen, that is to say, ‘the spirit which moves all things,’ that which lies beneath an object, a life-force of elemental power that speaks the truth of nature.

"No one has written with such clarity, from the seeing eye of the heart about the majesty and glory of the natural world as this man. His great masterpiece, Modern Painters, will continue to be a significant treatise, of value to art and artists for generations to come."

Tiana will also be teaching Painting the Mystic Forest at Higham Hall on February 23-26.

For further information telephone the Ruskin Museum on 015394-41164 Website: www.ruskinmuseum.com