AMID the damp and gloom, which will make November 2000 a month for the annals, especially in flooded York, two Wensleydale artists are about to cast a warmer glow culled from trips to Greece and the Mediterranean.

Ken Jones and his wife, Lesley Coates Jones, from Stalling Busk, are among a handful of artists invited by the Adze gallery in Goodramgate, York, to show works on the theme of Altera Roma - another Rome.

Heat, colour and passion are promised in the show, which opens on Sunday and runs until December 16.

Mr Jones, who came second in last year's Dover Prize painting competition in Darlington, will exhibit semi-abstract works painted in response to the experience of landscape and a series of haloed Iconoclastic portraits, reflecting his fascination with the head and ideas about masks.

His wife will contribute a number of mainly smaller works, abstract or semi-abstract, giving intimate glimpses into her enchantment with the colours and ruins of Greece.

The couple have been frequent visitors, setting off originally to trace the footsteps of a relative who was killed there during the Second World War, and in the process of several trips discovering the history of civilisation as well as family history.

"Journeys and discovery are so crucial to painting the parallels are remarkable, but that's a whole story in itself," said Mrs Jones.

The pair have worked alongside each other since they were 18, some 42 years, but work very differently in studios at opposite ends their long house, and are each other's sternest critic.

They do not always show together, but are very pleased to have been invited to join the half-dozen artists at the Adze gallery - these also include Janet Moodie, of Robin Hood's Bay, whose work has been seen in Darlington art gallery.

Ken Jones' work is held in many private and public collections and he has exhibited widely throughout the country, including the Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries in London. He and Lesley Coates Jones featured often at the former Chandler gallery in Leyburn.

The latter's most prestigious group shows include the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1994 and she has had solo shows at Covent Garden, Durham university and the North Berwick gallery in Edinburgh. In 1998, she was invited to judge the Dover Prize competition, run in conjunction with Darlington Borough Council, which replaced the Silver Longboat prize.

l This year's Dover prize show opens at Darlington art gallery on December 2 and runs until December 23 featuring work by from Northern artists.