ARTIST James Naughton inspired youngsters to create their own masterpieces.

Mr Naughton who created Bolton Museum’s ‘Naughton and Moran: Paintings of the American West’ exhibition shared his artistic skills with budding artists in Bolton’s primary schools.

He has so far visited six schools, including most recently Prestolee Primary in Stoneclough.

Ashley Jones, specialist leader in cultural education at Prestolee Primary School, enlisted the artist to hold workshops as part of a huge school arts project which culminated in children from eight schools staging their own exhibition in Bolton Museum.

Miss Jones said: “The children were so excited to meet an artist. They have studied artists from the past who are dead, such as Van Gogh, but here they were meeting a real life artist.

“James brought his paintings with him, and children thought they would not be able to create them, but he showed them step by step the techniques to create his artwork, and children created their own pieces.”

The artwork created in the workshops also formed part of the exhibition — and the artist seems to have inspired young people at Prestolee Primary to follow in his footsteps.

Madeline Rhodes, aged eight, said: “It was really exciting and different that James Naughton came to school because he’s a famous artist and it was a good surprise.

“I loved the work I did with James. It was amazing. I just love how he does his work, it is different to all the other painters. I want to be an artist when I’m older.”

Nathan Pomfret, aged nine, added: “It was very different to a normal art lesson and we’ve never done that style before.

"He uses dark colours and he showed us how to work with dark colours properly because when I used to draw in black paint it always ended up quite rubbish but when we did it with James Naughton it was a lot better and very unique.

“It was quite easy because he did it step by step and at the end we could paint our own picture without the steps, which was challenging but rewarding because it still looked really good. He also gave us a book and signed it.

“I read it straight away and I will never throw it away.”