NORTH Yorkshire artist, Michael Bilton, has had a painting accepted for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

The semi-abstract picture in oils is one of his larger canvasses, measuring 6ft square. Called Whispering Wood, it is an atmospheric evocation of a wood not far from his home in Grinton.

It is the first time that the artist has had a work accepted for the Summer Exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and continues into August.

A retired art lecturer, Mr Bilton, 65, has lived in the Yorkshire Dales for nearly ten years, and most of his paintings are inspired by the area.

He particularly enjoys working on the large-scale, though this restricts his public showings in the region to those galleries large enough to take them, and these tend to be few. Some of his smaller pictures, however, are on show at East Windy Hall as part of Swaledale Festival (see review, above right).

Previous competition successes include the national Hunting Prize exhibition, which has now ceased after 25 years, and the regional Dover Prize exhibition which used to be held at the former Darlington Art Gallery.

The Adze Gallery in York is one of his more regular outlets, and he has work on show at a gallery in Maidenbridge, near Lancaster. One of his pictures is in the permantent collection at York City Art Gallery.

Of Whispering Wood, he said: "I know this wood, though the painting is not a depiction of it as such, rather of my feelings about this place at certain times. When the painting was growing on the canvas, I realised it had a mysterious feel, something I have experienced many times in this wood."