PLAYWRIGHT Willy Russell has shown a whole new side to his talents as his paintings go on display in his first ever solo art exhibition.

Willy, whose works include Educating Rita and Blood Brothers, has revealed his new creative talent with the displays which are on show at Kirkby Gallery.

The dramatist, now 69, who was born at Whiston Hospital and lived in Rainhill as a child, discovered a talent for painting little more than a decade ago.

From glorious landscape watercolours and acrylics to experimental semi-abstract works in acrylic inks, the collection of paintings which make up the Another Aspect exhibition vividly bring to life Willy Russell’s journey as a visual artist.

Willy’s decision to host his first art exhibition came after working with the team at Kirkby Gallery, who curated an exhibition in 2015 called Willy Russell: Behind the Scenes, charting his writing career.

“Tina and her team did such a brilliant job with the Archive exhibition that when it came to exhibiting my art work, the idea of the Kirkby Gallery seemed just right and natural - although I had no idea if others would agree," said Willy, who attended Rainford High in his youth.

''Somewhat nervously I tentatively suggested it to Tina, who said: 'I’ve been wanting to ask you for ages!'

“We started discussing it in 2015 and since then I started painting like crazy."

He added: “Like most people who come fresh to painting, at first you want to represent what your eye is looking at. But you get to a point where you realise that you don’t need to do that."

All locations depicted are close to Willy’s heart – capturing views in Portugal, Herefordshire, mid Wales and the West Yorkshire Moors, all places Willy spends time.

“I now spend a great deal of my time painting,” he added.

“Obviously, I still spend a lot of time on writing and theatre and TV and film too. But if you were putting me away on a desert island and said: “ You can take either some paints and an easel, or an A4 pad and a pen”, I know which one I would take."

Another Aspect runs until September 2.