A TALENTED group of local artists put themselves in the frame by taking over a town centre shop to showcase their work.

The week-long exhibition at the McGilps pop up premises in Gourock features a range of pieces from artists across Inverclyde, including silver jewellery made by Lucy McLennan and a selection of art provided by the Pirate and Bluebelle Gallery.

Among the pictures and paintings are works by local artists Becca Houston, whose art depicts images of Inverclyde old and new and several vintage tram blinds by Mike Scott, each with a local touch.

Also featured are pair of pink Parker Knoll chairs, upholstered with locally-sourced Bute fabric by Ed McGill and Lorna McGilp of the Eclectic Chair.

Heather McCulloch from the Pirate and Bluebelle says the group were delighted to come together to display their wares alongside one another.

Heather said: "Lucy had the pop up and she had some space, so she asked all of us along.

"At the moment we're all working on a bigger project - we've hoping to have some studio space together and to be in that pretty soon so we thought this would be a good time to launch our wee collective."

Lucy, who runs Designs By Lucy, added: "It's great to have a space where you can work on a project, work towards a mini exhibition, and have it open to the public instead of selling online or selling through other outlets.

"It gets us known to folk who wouldn't normally shop with us."

The group are long-time friends but first-time collaborators, with Lucy and Heather having known each other since primary school.

They hope hat having studio space means the pop up shop will be the first of many joint projects.

Coming off a year overshadowed by the pandemic, furniture guru Ed told the Telegraph he is delighted to be back working.

He said: "It's fantastic to get stuck into a project like this, we were in college during the pandemic so that was difficult - you can't upholster anything online!

"I was obviously friends with everyone, and me and Lorna were getting started together when the opportunity came up, so we thought it was great."

The group will be in the pop up shop until Sunday, but hope to be back again soon with more projects to share.