A LOCAL painter has been using her artistic talents tell the tale of Inverclyde's witches as part of a new project.

Louise Carr has been delving into the dark corners of the district's history and teaching local youngsters about some of the area's most maligned women.

The project, which is entitled 'The Reclaiming - The Forgotten Women of Inverclyde's Past', is being funded through a grant from Creative Scotland.

Louise plans to produce 12 artworks for the project - half will be portraits of Greenock women who were accused of witchcraft and the other six are landscapes of important areas in the subject's history.

She told the Tele that the lack of information about local witches had been her motivation to start the project.

Louise said: "I've been interested in this subject for quite some time and thought it was quite strange that there wasn't more information about it locally.

"It was such an important part of Inverclyde's history and of women's history.

"Growing up here, the only time I ever heard anything about the women who were involved in this they were depicted as evil and cruel.

"But they were just women that were maybe a bit different, and for that they were accused of these crimes and murdered.

"I want to raise awareness about this subject and how horrific it was for these women.

"They weren't witches, they weren't evil, they were just women.

"I've painted six landscapes of places that are mentioned in the history and folklore of local witchcraft.

"I'm also working on portraits of six women from Greenock that were accused of witchcraft and murdered."

As part of the project, Louise has been visiting St Patrick's Primary School to tell pupils about the local women.

The children have been producing their own artworks based on the session, which Louise hopes to display alongside her paintings later this year.

The exhibition, which will be held at the Dutch Gable House, will also include works from locals who take part in Louise's upcoming witchcraft workshops.

Louise believes there are important lessons to be learned from the stories of the local women accused of witchcraft

She added: "Men were also accused, but it was mainly women, and it was often because they didn't fit with the idea of how a woman should have behaved back then.

"It's important to think about how we look after each other, not just women, but everyone."