AN ARTIST from Abergavenny will this week reveal an exhibition of her latest work, a stunning collection of oil paintings celebrating the best of Wales’ most beautiful landscapes.

Louise Collis has spent the last year travelling around Wales and painting the country’s coastline and mountains for her new exhibition, Peaks and Coasts, which opens today (September 4) at Y Galeri Caerffili in the town’s Visit Caerphilly Centre.

Each of the works was completed on location as Ms Collis, an en plein air painter, travelled. She said: “Painting outdoors forces you to be more decisive than in the studio, you have to paint quickly before the view is lost in mist and rain.

“I enjoy devoting time to a painting in situ where I can observe the landscape and become absorbed in it.”

Her works include views of Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire, as well as some paintings of sites closer to home, including Abergavenny’s Sugar Loaf.

There are also dramatic seascapes, tying in with the Welsh tourism campaign to market 2018 as the ‘year of the sea’ in Wales.

Ms Collis said Wales offered so much to artists like herself.

“Wales has really varied landscapes”, she said. “It’s got everything – peaks, cliffs and beaches. There’s inspiration everywhere.”

The Peaks and Coasts exhibition runs from September 4 until October 6 at Caerphilly’s Y Galeri Caerffili.

On Saturday (September 8), at the exhibition’s official launch, guests will be able to meet the artist between 1pm and 3pm. All are welcome to attend.