"Best ever start." Positive words from the Lake Artists Society's vice-president Phil Hobbs - and why not, as the yearly exhibition has become one of the finest of its kind.

Plus, 2004 is its centenary after all.

"It's nice to have such as good start to something so important," adds Phil.

"Everyone's worked very hard. It always hard, but this year with the centenary book, its been doubly-hard, so its particularly good to see it's so well-received."

Opened by the county's first lady of art Mary Burkett, the 100th exhibition has all the hallmarks of a super-successful show.

The work of Michael Fennel never ceases to amaze and his Blue Yonder and After the Ballet Lesson are two more compelling oils that suck you into the intriguing world of the Kendal artist. What drama lies beneath?

Another striking image is Graham Twyford's Great Northern City by Twilight - Manchester's Central Library and St Peter's Square glisten as a gentle evening shower falls.

Vistas of dizzy heights and razor sharp mountaintops are the trademark of Vivienne Pooley and her watercolour Monch and Eiger at Dawn (Grindelwald) doesn't disappoint.

And sticking with high altitude, Richard Fisher's holly and elm sculpture On the Great Flake (Scafell) has character climbing' all over it.

Work by founders and past members feature in the fantastic show alongside the great and the good of the present gathering such as Martin Greenland, Marion Bradley, Philip MacLeod Coupe, Meryll Evans, Ron Dickens, Claude Harrison, Bardy Crewdson, Michael Bottomley, Phil Hobbs, Susan Glassford, Pat Cleary and Martin Tomlinson.

Fittingly, the new sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos, The Mystery of Time, has prime position in Grasmere Village Hall, as the great sculptress celebrates her own 100th in October, and is one of the society's most celebrated members.

Also in the frame this year is journalist Jane Renouf's 310-page hardback book The Lake Artists Society A Centenary Celebration.

It charts the rise of the society from the days way back in 1904, when William Gershom Collingwood, a prominent local artists and historian, organised the Coniston Art Exhibition and the term Lake artists' was first coined as a group.

The chapter on the founder members makes fascinating reading, setting the tone for the long list of biographies on illustrious creators such as Frank Bramley, of the Newlyn School, and distinguished painters such as Sir William Russell Flint and James Durden as well as the creative connections with some of the region's long-established families such as the Somervells, Crewdsons, and Willinks.

So, to sum up, a stunning centenary Lake Artist show - long live the society!

The exhibition runs until September 8, Monday-Saturday from 10am-5.30pm, Sundays 2pm-5.30pm.