A PURTON artist who began working life in the railway works has opened his latest exhibition in Old Town.

Quirky Victoria Road gallery Oink is showing new paintings and sculpture by Gordon Dickinson.

Among the new works are explosively colourful “spin paintings” and mantel clocks that have had their hour markers shaken around their faces. The exhibition has been brought together by Oink gallery owner Mark Pepperall.

Former railway works coach welder Gordon, 58, said at Friday night’s glitzy evening opening that many of the works had been completed while recovering from illness.

“I came out of that not feeling great," he said.

"I wasn’t doing anything and a friend came round. She convinced me that I had to start doing art again.”

Almost all of the larger paintings in the exhibition have been created using a home-made paint paint spin machine.

Gordon first came across the technique, which sees artists pour, flick or brush paint onto a spinning canvas, 50 years ago on Brighton Pier.

“My old man took me there. It stuck with me all these years,” he said.

Gordon created his own spinning machine after showing school children the technique.

Now he and wife Toni run arts organisation No Added Sugar, which offers arts workshops for schools, youth charities and other organisations.

The Purton artist has used the long school summer holiday to work on his art.

“It was perfect for Mark to say, ‘do you want to do an exhibition.’ It’s given me something to do through the summer,” he said.

As well as the paintings, Gordon is showing his collection of half-a-dozen 'drop clocks'.

The timepieces, most of which were bought online, have been repainted and had their hour-markers torn off and scattered around the clock face. Among the clocks is a small, square-faced “eclipse clock”, inspired by the recent solar eclipse.

Gordon said: “These clocks have had a working life and done their time. Most of them still work as clocks, but if you wound them all up and come back in an hour, they’d nearly all tell a different time.”

Despite swearing he’s made his last timepiece, Gordon still admits to guiltily buying old carriage clocks online.

“I was going to stop doing it,” he said. “But I’m addicted now.”

Mark Pepperall, whose Oink gallery opened last year, said: “Gordon’s was part of the original collection of artists’ work we had. A lot of our artists are from London or Bristol, but he’s a local artist. I just think he’s an amazing artist.”

Gordon Dickinson’s new exhibition is at Oink, 95 Victoria Road. For more, visit: www.oinkgallery.co.uk