AN artist who takes to the road in a mobile studio arrived in the North-East at the weekend to open an exhibition which places the focus on landscapes and battlefields.

Robert Perry's latest exhibition, which was unveiled at the DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery in Durham, will run until Sunday, February 27.

Mr Perry, of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, said: "I have always worked on the spot.

"I have converted a van and travel all over Europe looking for landscapes.

"One of my themes is anti-war and I have painted many scenes on the First World War battlefields of the Somme and Verdun, as well as Second World War sites."

Mr Perry makes of use of improvised methods, including impressions of vegetation from the scene, painting with a squeegee and using a spray gun.

He said: "My mobile studio, which is a converted van, enables me to work in all conditions - rain, snow and sun and by day and by night."

His latest exhibition features studies made on location of the decaying remains and reclamation by nature of various sites from the 1939-45 conflict.

It also includes nocturnal and panoramic images of the urban-industrial landscape of the West Midlands.