AMATEUR artist Alan Duffy knew just where to look for his inspiration - the home of the great French Impressionist painter, Monet.

Mr Duffy's pictures of the great painter's gardens - which Monet himself often used as his subject - are included in a fundraising exhibition today.

"Visitors are allowed to take photographs of Monet's house and gardens, but not to make sketches," said Mr Duffy, of Guisborough. "On my return I choose two photographs to paint, trying to recall the true colours and recreate the atmosphere." His pictures form part of an exhibition of paintings and photographs by local people in Christ Church parochial hall at Great Ayton.

The event has been organised by the curate, the Reverend Geoff Jaques, and the proceeds will go to Christ Church's second millennium project, raising cash for the Barnabas Fund, which gives aid to Christians in countries indifferent or hostile to their faith. The aim is to raise £9,000 to build a meeting house and classrooms at a Syrian church with limited facilities in a very poor area.