AS light as air, Sam Jamieson's dancers soar across the canvas while on the wall nearby Alison Cowan's highly textured landscapes bring the outdoors in.

A wander around Christo's Gallery in Great Western Road, Glasgow, with Louise Burns and there is no denying the amount of talent we have in Scotland.

Portraits, cityscapes, animals and broiling landscapes, they all adorn the walls of the gallery overseen by Louise.

She set it up 10 years ago after a light bulb moment on a trip to New York.

"I've always been a sales person and I wanted to sell something I loved," she remembers." I just loved how they sold art in New York. I thought, 'I could do this'. It has grown from there.

"I come in some days and it has been a tough commute but you walk in, you're surrounded by all this Scottish talent, fantastic Scottish artists, and I think we're so blessed, it soon lightens me up."

An art collector for many years, Louise started asking artists she admired if she could hang their work. Now she regularly attends exhibitions looking for new talent as well as focusing on familiar faces in the home-grown art scene, such as Philip Raskin, Hazel Bowman and Angela Hynd.

In a bid to keep prices affordable, Louise offers a payment scheme and customers can taken a piece of art home to try before they decide to buy.

"I keep it fresh, it's an eclectic mix. I feel when you're in a normal gallery situation it becomes the entire gallery owner's taste. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I do have to like it before I can have it on my walls or respect it," she says.

"Where art is concerned it is such a subjective matter, it is so personal.

"I've sold pop art to elderly couples and they've mixed it up with their antiques and it looks fantastic. You can never second guess what someone wants on their wall."

For anyone dipping their toe into the art world there are affordable prints. And a selection of cards, gifts and jewellery appeal to anyone with a magpie-like eye for the interesting and unusual.

"I'll never forget my very first sale. A girl chapped the door at 7pm and I wasn't opening until the next day, but she wanted a card for a friend who had just passed an exam," explains Louise.

"She found a card and her parting shot was, 'I'll be back here'. And she was, she came back to buy two pieces of art when she graduated, when she got married she had a wedding present and later an anniversary present from her husband, all bought from here.

"She has a lovely art collection and it all started with a card."

Must-have buys from the selection of gifts include brightly coloured aluminium bowls and serving dishes by Fairtrade company Azeti, handbags, photo frames and jewellery including a marcasite range now worn on screen by the cast of television's Downton Abbey.

Louise's own travels have inspired many of the things for sale, including delicate glass masks sourced in Amsterdam and Lampe Berger home fragrances she discovered when visiting her niece in France.

"They purify the air as well and they come in gorgeous bottles, I had to have them," smiles Louise.

Christo's Gallery, 595 Great Western Road, Glasgow. Visit www.christosgallery.com