PAINTER Michael Lumb hopes his first exhibition at a Teesdale gallery will take him one step further along the path to becoming a full time artist.

Mr Lumb, 45, who is based near Darlington, is showing a number of oil on board and prints of land and townscapes at the NeST Gallery, in Newgate, Barnard Castle.

“I was at Manchester Polytechnic, left college at 23 and have done art on and off since,” he said.

“It is only in the last five or six years that I have started to concentrate more and more on getting myself known.”

Mr Lumb's exhibition at the NeST continues until December 22, however, he hopes to show more of his work at the gallery in 2014.