FOR painter Tim Fudge, Pembrokeshire is a richly coloured land steeped in history.

Born in Scotland and raised mostly in Hull, Tim developed his love of Pembrokeshire on family holidays to Wales.

Later he studied art in Swansea and settled with his young family in Maenclochog at the foot of the Preseli mountains.

The Pembrokeshire coastline now dominates his work, but his latest show, at Pure Art in Milford Haven, also features the western coastlines of Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall.

The show's title - West Coast Blues - is a nod to the colours that dominate the work.

"Being a Scottish colourist influenced artist I really seek out those blue skies, which a lot of native Welsh landscape painters don't tend to do that much," said Tim.

"I'm fired by that contrast of emeralds and Prussian blues of the sea against the cadmium yellows and oranges of lichen, or the intense reds of rowan berries against the blue of the sky."

"I choose particularly bright days to paint, especially after rain on an autumn or spring day when it's so bright it almost hurts your eyes and you get that huge intensity of colour."

His paintings aim to capture not just the visual elements of a place, but also a sense of their history and atmosphere.

"For me, it's not just a view of topography or light conditions or weather, it's partly about the places I choose to paint - they're often sites of archaeological and historical interest, so in that sense the paintings are as much about the place as about the view. It brings in myth and memory, and all those social connotations which people connect to place," continued Tim.

"There is a very special western light, but the thing about Pembrokeshire particularly is the intimacy of the small fields and the minutiae of the landscape," he said. "I like to paint places where Bronze Age or Iron Age sites are still visible just below the surface. You're aware that the rocks you're painting would have had a particular significance to people and that they literally haven't changed over 2-3,000 years."

Pure Art's owner Leslie Crascall is delighted with the work Tim has produced.

"Tim's view of Britain's West Coast is a dramatic and uplifting one," he said. "It's hardly surprising that he has become one of our best-selling artists. He's a painter who is deeply in tune with the landscape and he produces work of great strength and authenticity."

The exhibition runs from November 5 to 26.