A TINY piece of art depicting a woman's beloved horse has been blown up in scale and printed onto a huge piece of aluminium.

Originally created at a size of just 600mm by 500mm by renowned animal artist Keith Sykes, the latest piece of art work measures considerably more at 2m by 1.6m.

Commissioned by a client from Denmark after the stunning prized Icelandic stallion passed away earlier this year, Keith turned to Kendal-based business Absolute Digital for help.

John Wallbank, managing director of the Natland Road company, said: "It only took minutes to print. The problem was sourcing the metal. We ended up going to a mill in Preston and hand-picking it."

He said the business used a HP500 flat bed printer which is capable of printing onto glass, stone and metal.

"It was nice to be able to use that equipment on something so diverse," he said. "We all enjoy having something challenging and different to do."

Keith, who lives in Heysham, specialises in producing stunning pieces of art using the Scraperboard technique.

Although extremely time consuming, by using only black ink on a white background he relies purely on light and shade to capture the unique character of the animal or bird he is portraying.