An exhibition of work by the late John Addyman begins today (Friday) at the Oriel Q-Queens Hall Gallery in Narberth.

This exhibition in his adopted home town of Narberth reveals a precious hoard of sketchbooks and early work by one of Britain's most original landscape watercolourists, teachers and thinkers.

Much of the work on show has never been exhibited before. Early, experimental graphics, sketchbooks and paintings have been chosen by his daughter Harriet from the huge amount of work that was still in John Addyman's studio when he died in 2006.

Work that spans a 60-year-long career, including paintings, drawings, collages and prints, ceramics and sketchbooks have been discovered by his family and include intimate thoughts, deliberations, observations and reflections that show the wit and wisdom of this original artist.

His knowledge of art and life, his integrity and his passion are revealed in this wonderful exhibition.

John Addyman could switch from two to three dimensions with ease, but it was through the medium of watercolour that he made his greatest statements.

There are scores of watercolours, some mounted and framed, others rolled up and tucked into the eaves of the attic of his house in Narberth like latter-day Dead Sea scrolls.

Watercolour allowed him to draw out his thoughts on paper, and his watercolour sketches express ideas that continue to play with our perceptions in the larger landscape works for which he is best known.

John Addyman's father ran a leather and grinding shop in Port Talbot. Living there in the early 1950s brought John into contact with unsuspecting and neglected aspects of Welsh culture.

It was a ground-breaking experience in other ways: while based in Port Talbot, John took himself out to the Glamorganshire coast to draw the rocks of Rest Bay. It was there that he learnt to construct the observed landscape on a flat surface. The experience cemented the rest of his painting career.

The knowledge of how to express the fractured and stratified rocks of Porthcawl gave him the building blocks, framework and subsoil that he took with him to East Anglia and Nottingham.

Having learnt how to interpret softer, eastern landscapes, he returned to his beloved Wales in 1989 with an even wider understanding of how to form his ambitious ideas into paint.

This would-be-archive is a treasure in more ways than one. Hopefully it could provide guidance and inspiration for countless generations. This is a unique chance to gain a more intimate knowledge of the artist before many of the works are dissipated into collections, both national and private.

The exhibition 'Thought Forms: John Addyman, 1929-2006' is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm until April 30.

Appointments may be made outside these times. Please 'phone 01834869454 or email [email protected]">[email protected] for further details.