AS part of Devon Open Studios, Simon Ripley's exotic prints tantalise and inspire.

Clouds approach as a golden sun beats down on whispering grasses whilst a door starts one off on life's journey but will you take the right route?

Tempers fray - Christmas bells glisten - as a fraught game of noughts and crosses metaphor for marriage; draws to a close.

Air waves, cascading like ribbons, reach out to pools of loneliness - reflections of Eleanor Rigby.

Hasten along to Routes to Paradise II, V and VI: journeys to be experienced, decisions to make and hearts desire to achieve. Life's tapestries.

Dreams of Australia clears the mind. Energy and expectations flood the lush grass as heat drips. A new life beckons.

A Light Light Rain brings us back to reality. A green watering can signalling strength and growth. New beginnings.

Worshippers surround a sun temple in Standing Stones. Steadfast in their own beliefs; eager to communicate with others.

Twin pictures intrigue. Are you brave enough to leap over the white picket fence of domesticity and invade the unknown in Off the Radar? Erase entangled balls of orange wool; black roots of depression hopelessly unravelling in Bafflement? Try.

Dashes of red fish dart in and out of Clear Lake; resplendent against the blue; safe in their own domain.

Move from these thought provoking artworks to Isabel, Paul, Ben and Sarah at Steel Yard Arts, Crediton.

Isabel Merrick's ceramics glow with vitality, exuberance and the essence of a late summer's evening. Humour spills from her "splayed fleet" vases and gorgeous solid teapot decorated with a cheeky bird.

Catch two paintings - a portrait of a red-mouthed voluptuous woman; the other, a celebration of life; shapes dancing, frolicking. Glad to be alive!

Paul McCullough's nudes will stay with you, never to be forgotten.

As age takes its toll, a male nude rests, lines of life etched along his body whilst strength and power emanate from "his companion" - veins protruding along muscled, clasped arms.

Vulnerability crawls around a defenceless foot, lost in crumpled sheets. What stories lie hidden?

Dwell on a fiery furnaced portrait of Miles Davis; playing the Devils music to sizzling perfection.

Dare you venture near a robed skeleton spewing bones of the dead? Butterfly souls in the making.

Step into the enchanted world of Ben Boyland. Tactile wooden bowls - "starlight" Yew, Ash honeycomb, dark and intense Walnut and pale coffee coloured Hawthorn - in need of a caress.

Sarah Harvey's exquisite signs flow vibrantly viz her horn of plenty, pungent with grapes and dripping vines. Buy one of her sturdy oak leaf key rings to hang on a curly edged key holder.

Feast your eyes on tough money bags - made to last forever!

Truly all 24 carat artists!

Jane Partridge