The first words that come to mind when writing about Fred Schley's new landscape paintings are space and serenity, particularly when it comes to the Scottish subjects.

There is a great deal of depth to Fred Schley - a man of little compromise when it comes to the interpretation of his subjects and his approach to painting them.

As opposed to producing a range of Cotswold 'scenes' featuring obvious and well known landmarks, Fred has given us a most engaging group of earthy and intimate paintings. Particularly notable is a grand panorama looking towards the Malvern Hills, as well as a highly original study of Chastleton House looking upwards from the floor of the courtyard. The Isle of Skye and the paintings from the Scottish landscapes are very strong, conveying powerful atmospherics with great majesty, some on a grand scale. All are exquisitely observed and executed.

These intimate paintings reveal a most unusual artistic instinct and ability – an approach part modern, fresh and contemporary, strongly tempered with Dutch genes, disciplined by the conditioning of a country's great artistic heritage.

John Davies, 2010