An award-winning painter is offering art lovers a chance to help him create his next piece of work of work in Keswick this weekend.

Lawrence Coulson, 55, will set up his easel and palette at Treeby & Bolton art gallery on Saturday and invited people to contribute their own brushstrokes to a blank panel.

The self-taught landscape artist failed his art O-level but now creates original paintings that sell for thousands of pounds.

He has earned several Fine Art Trade Guild awards.

Lawrence's visit, between noon and 4pm, is the only Cumbrian date in a UK tour that coincides with the release of A Darker Light, a collection of six signed, limited-edition prints.

He said: "I've turned up the volume on the colour so it almost jumps off the walls. The pieces are very atmospheric. I've had grown men moved to tears, which is very humbling.

"I got a grade D for art at O-level but maybe I wasn't that motivated back then. And if I had done better and gone to art college, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. They're all doing digital media or digital art."

Copies of his latest work at the Lake Road gallery and cafe.

Lawrence, from Lincolnshire, said: "I'll invite people to have a go at painting with me. It adds a bit of theatre and gets people involved.

"I won't get anywhere near finishing the piece but I'll take it back to the studio and if they are keen, they can buy it as their own piece of work. At every show so far this summer, the piece I have done in the gallery has sold to a person who has worked on it."

Gallery manager Libbie Barton said: "We are all really looking forward to Lawrence's visit. His work is fantastic and it should be great fun for everyone to see him working at close quarters here in the gallery, especially for those brave enough to have a go at painting with him."