Some good artists do not automatically have the gift and the facility to master certain skills which come easily to others. We see this time and time again. George Apap has no problem with light: he can use it brilliantly. He flashes it sometimes until it almost hurts the eyes, on other occasions he pours it subtly. We can almost tell the time of day as we see his shadows and luminosity on the stonework, along the streets and even in his more open views with trees and bushes and farmland. His textures are also plausible, here emphasis and subtlety combine to cause - certainly in my case - a feeling of nostalgia.

I like his views because I recognise in them all that I hold special. He focuses successfully on street angles, shops, balconies and statuary. He copes well with vegetation, the type that pops out of ancient walls; his trees are real and he takes care to produce good botanical embellishments.