ARTIST Sean McCann has travelled the world to far flung shores as south east Asia, the United States and Canada, where he's been inspired by the people he’s met and the places he's seen.

Closer to home, it's the Lake District that has greatly influenced his work, beautifully demonstrated in his From Mountain to Sea exhibition of recent landscape oil paintings, which runs until June 28 at Brantwood's Severn Studio.

Liverpool-based Sean says the Lakes is a magical place, an area of outstanding beauty with a great variety of landscape within a relatively small area.

"I like its human scale," adds Sean. "It is approachable. The light is incredible, even when it rains. There is no such thing as a bad day, just different days. Each has something to offer. I love to explore these hills soaking up the atmosphere and memory of times past and present. In a world from which man is constantly extracting, it is wonderful to walk on ground that is protected and hasn’t changed in years. There is a strong connection to the past and also to something much greater than the present. This is what inspires my paintings.

"Like the surrounding inspirational landscape that has provided subject matter for many great artists, Brantwood and the Severn Studio also have a great artistic legacy and connection to the past.

"It is a privilege to be exhibiting here. The studio is a beautiful intimate space where my work will find its place."

Sean was born in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. His interest in painting was developed at an early age. From his early teens he joined his father in evening art classes to be taught oil painting. Aged 18 he did a foundation art course at the Ulster Polytechnic (1977-78), followed by a fine art degree at Brighton College of Art (1978-81) and a masters in fine art at Birmingham Art College (1981-82).

After Birmingham he moved to London where he had a studio in the East End, an area to where most artists gravitated because of the affordable studio accommodation. Since London he has lived and painted in the highlands of Scotland and the north and west coast of Ireland.

Sean says that an exhibition is often the first time that the artist can really see the work outside the studio: "When the paintings are on a gallery wall it allows them to exist separately and also be part of a larger family of paintings. Little groups of paintings sit perfectly together and connections develop between them. New relationships are formed. Each exhibition is an opportunity to complete and assess a body of work and move forward. This process makes me realise that throughout an artist’s life painting is a journey, which only ends when you put down your paintbrushes for the last time. This exhibition at Brantwood is part of that journey.”

Brantwood is open 10.30am-5pm.

For further information telephone 015394-41396.