The Made in Ross Gallery is delighted to host a new exhibition by acclaimed artist Al Blethyn.

Al, who lives near on Ross-on-Wye, began his career as a graphic designer before becoming creative director at some of London’s leading advertising agencies. He then set up his own successful company ABCreative in Cheltenham which he ran for 35 years.

But away from the pressures of the design world, Al always continued making his own work and when he pulled down the shutters on his company in 2010 it allowed him to work full time as an artist.

Al uses pastel crayons to create vibrant landscapes, still life, abstracts and skyscapes. When applying the pastels, he uses blending, cross hatching, smudging and building-up of colour to create vivid, atmospheric works of art. With a choice of differing pastel types, he can be as subtle, controlled or flamboyant as he wishes, changing as the mood of the picture evolves.

Pastels are a difficult medium to master, but Al’s skill comes from all those years as a graphic designer, except in back then he used marker pens. His finished works brilliantly capture the changing light of a winter sky or evoke the glowing colours of a summer’s day, or a profusion of colour in a still life.

The exhibition runs from April 2 to 29, and both original artworks and prints are on sale.

The Made in Ross Gallery is located upstairs at Ross-on-Wye’s historic Market House in the centre of the town. It’s open 10 - 4pm, 7 days a week and also shows work by its resident artists.