TALENTED young Gourock artists have brought the beautiful Inverclyde landscape to life in a stunning calendar produced to raise funds for their school's art department.

Third year pupils at St Columba's High say a visit to The Pirate and Bluebelle Gallery and gift shop in Gourock inspired them to create an art exhibition and calendar, which has raised hundreds of pounds for the school's art department.

Monica Durning, principal teacher of art and design, says the exhibition and calendar are an excellent way for the pupils to showcase their 'incredible' artwork.

She said: "Nick from The Pirate and Bluebelle kindly donated a lot of his photographs to the pupils and they used them for inspiration.

"They based their artwork on the photos and some of the pupils took their own and studied the impressionist landscape.

"We wanted to promote how inspirational the Inverclyde landscape is - I think St Columba's has the best view in Scotland.

"We were really impressed with their work and this led the pupils to create an exhibition.

"This has allowed our incredibly talented students to showcase their skills in drawing and painting."

The exhibition proved such a success that the pupils then created a calendar which has already sold more than 200 copies.

Laura Young, an art and design teacher who helped the pupils, said: "The work that the pupils produced is amazing and the amount of people who wanted to buy the calendar has been phenomenal.

"It has raised somewhere in the region of about £400 to £500.

"We will use that to buy materials for the pupils to use."

Nick Summers, who co-owns The Pirate and Bluebelle Gallery and gift shop with Heather McCulloch, says he has been inspired to see his photographs being interpreted by pupils in their own way.

He said: "It's hugely complimentary that they can see something in my photographs that I didn't see.

"I think the visit to the gallery showed them all the different styles of art and that inspired them to express themselves."

Pupil Blair McDonald is thrilled his sunset masterpiece features in the calendar.

The 14-year-old said: "I used a photograph donated by Nick and I created my piece using paint and chalk pastels.

"It's quite cool to see it in the calendar."

Isla Rodgers, 14, another of the pupils involved in the project, added: "I enjoyed going out and selling the calendar as it's a really high quality."

The calendar is still available to purchase and can be ordered by phoning the school on 715250.