TALENTED young artists are bringing a little culture to Bolton town centre.

The work of 40 painters from year six boys at Bolton School are exhibiting their landscape drawings at the Market Place Shopping Centre.

They have been inspired by photographs and places they had visited — and created in class over 12 weeks.

Teacher Tim Dickinson said: “We do a similar project every year and the results are always this good.

“This is, however, the first time we have displayed the boys’ work outside of the school.

“Painting a landscape to this quality is a daunting task for a Year Six pupil, but once they’d seen work from previous years, they really started believing they could do it.”

Pupil Thomas Mair, aged 11, from Heaton, said: “I chose my picture because it had good contrast between the land and the sky.

“It’s quite dark, with a sunset and some water.

“I’m very pleased with the result.

I’ve not done painting before, though I do draw a lot and make up my own characters.

“I certainly didn’t expect to see my work on public display and we normally only show pictures in school.

“If someone offered to buy my picture I would probably sell it, but I would have to think about for how much.”

The exhibition runs until March 2.

Rod Neasham, centre manager at Market Place, said: “We are all very impressed with the quality of these paintings and are getting some extremely favourable comments from shoppers.

“We hope other local schools will take up our offer to exhibit their work at the shopping centre. We can offer them a fantastic public showcase, right in the centre of the town and their work brings pleasure to our customers.”

For more information about displaying school and community work at the Market Place, ring 01204 361100.