Artist Fred Schley painted this scene of the church at Chipping Campden.

An artist from the Netherlands has been invited to interpret the Gloucestershire landscape for the first time.

"Firstly, I love the less touched parts of this region, and felt that the artist would enjoy getting to know it," said John.

"Secondly, while we have many visitors to the gallery who love the Scottish landscape which Fred also paints, I felt that they would also be very interested to see a more local landscape viewed through the eyes of this remarkable painter.

"Thirdly, I thought that Fred Schley would be interested in exploring the Cotswold region - he does, after all, live in the relatively flat landscape of the Netherlands. In the event he loved it, finding the area full of richness and diversity."

Fred usually depicts his scenes through strongly contrasting weather conditions, some conveyed with clarity of light captured in the morning, mid-day or evening sun.

Unlike his paintings of Scotland, the Cotswold subjects capture a softer, more domestic environment, similarly observed through a wide range of prevailing conditions.

Here the artist has become engaged with the soft rise and fall of the Cotswolds, the worked earth and hedgerows of an agricultural region, as well as the architecture of one or two specific buildings that he has encountered.

'Mysterious'

"For quite some time I am very interested in the times of the Tudors," said Fred.

"Because not a lot has changed in the Cotswolds there is still much in its more or less original state in respect of the fields and buildings.

"Over this long period of history I feel it accumulated something secretive. There is something mysterious lurking around.

"On the surface it looks beautiful but there is something going on behind the scenes.

"This is what I love about the Cotswolds, not what is made out of it: a tourist chocolate box with sentiments of the noble past."

Fred Schley: The Serene & Spacious Landscape is showing at The John Davies Gallery in Moreton-in-Marsh from 13 March to 10 April, 2010.

For more information, please call the gallery (01608 652255) or visit their website.