SOUTH Wales is hardly known for its light, but North Wales offers an extraordinary range of darknesses.

From the endless grey slate of Blaenau Ffestiniog to the brooding hills of Snowdonia, the landscape has a stark beauty which few artists have been able to capture. Kyffin Williams is an exception.

Born in North Wales, his paintings have always dwelt within the region and few could claim he has failed to capture its indomitable spirit.

And his new exhibition at Cardiff's Albany Gallery shows the full range of his skills as well as providing a glimpse into the heart of the land he loves.

His oil paintings are blocky, dun and deeply personal, and while not exactly figurative somehow offer a view of a world we all recognise.

The show includes his landscapes, his portraits and, unusually, views of Holland and England as well as Williams's beloved Wales.

It also contains his own inimitable commentary on his paintings, which offers an explanation as to where he has been led by his art.

The artist said: "It is rarely that I paint the sunrise for somehow it never appears to be as dramatic as the sunset.

"From Anglesey its reflection makes a golden path across the Menai, breaking into fragments when the tide is low near Llanfaes.

"I have always painted flowers but have seldom exhibited my paintings of them. "After the rose I believe that I love the daffodil and the narcissi the best. Maybe the arrival of spring has something to do with it."

Kyffin Williams RA runs until November 9 at the Albany Gallery, Cardiff, which opens from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.