A NEW art exhibition opened at Tenby Museum and Art Gallery on Friday.

Spirit of Place by Monica Groves was officially opened by David Lewis, self-confessed art lover and publisher of the book Pembrokeshire Art.

In his opening speech, Mr. Lewis praised the work as being 'something special' and emphasised the fact that each picture had a story behind it, revealed by the snippets of textual explanation presented with each painting in the gallery.

Through her work, Monica explained that she attempts to 'interpret in paint the beauty, history and culture of Pembrokeshire and the west of Ireland, concentrating on the essence of location rather than the actual scene, seeking to define a spirit of place among the stones, springs, mountains, islands, trees and holy places within a Celtic landscape'.

In the exhibition, there are paintings of lone farmsteads, moonlit chapels, golden mornings, forest glades, sunsets and trees, set within the beautiful and inspiring, but not always gentle landscapes of Pembrokeshire and Ireland.

The sales exhibition runs until Sunday, June 24.