Getting Up - Windows on the City

Art collective NOW NOW with their contemporary art tombola

Art arrived on the streets of Inverness on 19 December.

The 'Getting Up - Windows on the City' project launched at Rose Street car park with the aim of re-imagining the city centre.

Live music and artworks greeted the public at the official launch along with hot soup to raise the freezing temperature.

Artists overhauled public spaces and empty shops to brighten the gloom of winter in Inverness Old Town.

Woolly mushrooms

The free project, organised by Inverness Old Town Art (IOTA) and BID, is financed by the Inverness Common Good Fund and runs until 20 January.

Janie Nicoll's "Getting Up" artwork includes quotes and lyrics

The artists involved in the project have created artworks in a range of media ranging from glow-in-the-dark woolly mushrooms by Hilary Grant and Mahala Le May to a re-working of Andy Warhol's dollar sign artwork by Janie Nicoll.

The event was curated by Richie Cumming of the National Galleries of Scotland and Stacey Hunter of The Lighthouse who said: "We've been overwhelmed by positive support from local organisations...all of whom have been incredibly open-minded and generous with their time and resources."

Ideal time

Organisers hope that December and January will prove to be the ideal time for the art event with festive and sales shoppers pouring into Inverness city centre.

Susan Christie of IOTA said: "We want to disrupt how people perceive the city and show spaces and places in a different way. People have been incredibly kind to the artists and hopefully this is just the beginning of more like-minded projects".

The Inverness Old Town Art project began in 2006 and grew out of the city streetscape project.