Exhibition: John Brook's paintings

John has spent many years developing his own style of painting

The latest exhibition in the 2026 exhibition space at BBC Radio Lancashire features paintings by John Brook.

John has spent many years developing his own style of painting for his intricate images.

The only other two people who know how he achieves this are his wife Josie and son John.

Brook is 58 years old and for many years worked as a technical illustrator.

Thirteen years ago he decided to try and develop his own style of painting, in the hope that people would recognise his unique style and say: "That's a painting by J. T. Brook."

His work consists of three styles - spinners, pods and fossils - with each art form based on circles from the size of an old penny, right down to the smallest dot visible to the human eye. Sometimes John will combine the three depending on the theme of that particular piece of art.

His favourite style is spinners, where the paint is actually spun on the card with brushes that he has designed and which took many years to perfect.

John's paintings are very intricate and should be viewed up closely. Sizes range from 10 x 8 up to 20 x 16 inches, and take about five to six weeks to complete from the initial stage of a sketch. The painting is done on card, mainly black and white as John feel this gives the best results, he has also painted on metals and woods. This unique way of painting is distinctive to John as he is alone in this particular medium of transferring paint to paper.

Along the way there have been many failures, but John was encouraged to carry on by his wife Josie and son John.

John hopes, when you see his paintings you find much pleasure but also amazement from an artist who paints from his soul and the very bottom of his heart. Some of his works can leave him emotionally drained but when he sees them in a frame he knows that all the struggles and years of failures have finally come into fruition.

You can see John Brook's exhibition is at the BBC Radio Lancashire 2026 exhibition centre on Darwen Street, Blackburn, BB2 2EA for two weeks from Monday 29 June 2009. Call for opening times on 01254 262411.