Whether you’re a surfer, a Signac or a Smithson fan, if you have an ounce of emotion, an appreciation of nature, or a desire to escape the city streets and delve deep into the landscapes and seascapes of a shared imagination, then you cannot fail to enjoy this exhibition.

Sandwiched between the opening exhibition, Port Meadow by Roddy McColl and the forthcoming exhibition, Eye to Eye by Helen Pakeman, Kieran Stiles’ semi-abstract landscape paintings take the central spot in a series of three exhibitions to coincide with Oxford Castle’s Earth From The Air exhibition of photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

They draw the passer by off the Oxford streets for a toe-dipping dance between the walls of the city's oldest quarter, the Oxford Castle Heritage project, that encircles Stiles’ work in O3 Gallery. When you enter the gallery’s intimate cylindrical space, the artist’s brushstrokes whisk you from painting to painting, up, down and around the staircases.

In this, the first professional solo exhibition by the Cornish-taught, Oxford-based artist, the viewer is taken on a rhythmic journey over what feels like the unmistakable British landscapes, coastal cliff-tops and savage seascapes of recollected infancy, rose-tinted intimacy and the slow sun of retirement.

Emotionally sculptural in his approach to his two-dimensional works on paper, Stiles is very obviously keen to evoke the here-and-now of a moment rather than the photorealism of so many of his peers.

His approach is reminiscent of J M W Turner, with a knowing command of colour, and an energy and passion for the great outdoors. Stiles says: “I glance up to see an encroaching swathe of cloud, I look down at my brushes, or to eat a sandwich, and every time I look back at my subject, it has changed, as it must, because it is nature. I am experiencing thousands of tiny visual moments.”

Enter the gallery through either door, turn to your right and you will be met by either Edge or Wash; polar in proportions, they are two of the most intense, celebratory works in this exhibition.

I found myself gazing longingly into the picture plane of these two works, smiling to myself as I imagined the sound of waves breaking against the impasto cliffs, the sun beating down on my bare shoulders – just what you want at this time of year. Not at all what I’d anticipated feeling.

There are sharp contrasts between other works in the exhibition, the vibrant colour in Lobber Point fights for the viewers’ attention, singing ferociously at the viewer, juxtaposed next to the more somber reality of the muddy mess of Field.

It leads the viewer slowly past its hedgerows and on, through the gallery space towards, what I consider to be the shining showcase of this exhibition, Beach.

Perched, somewhat precariously on a top step, Beach features transparent whispers of earthy undertones that climb the cliffs in this painting, only for the flakes of heavily applied gouache to fall away from them.

Look into this painting and feel alive; stand back, and enjoy the view!

* Kieran Stiles’ exhibition continues until Sunday, November 23, at the 03 Gallery, Oxford Castle.