ARTIST Adam Baldwin is aiming to build a career based on his love of art after giving up a lucrative life in the construction industry.

The 54-year-old, from Northumberland, decided to pack in his job travelling the world as a successful building boss to concentrate on his art.

Now he is keeping his fingers crossed that his current exhibition, which opens today at the Darlington Art Gallery, in the town's Crown Street Library, will be equally successful.

Mr Baldwin said: "I'm not in this business for the money. I just want people to see my work and enjoy it, as many as I can encourage.

"After all, I had a perfectly decent living in the construction business, I'm doing this because I love it and I want to give it a go."

He has been interested in sketching and in art all his life, and takes much of his inspiration from living in various parts of the region, such as Darlington and Middlesbrough.

Many of his pieces are monochrome drawings of rural, urban and industrial landscapes based on the North-East.

He said: "I want people to come and make their own minds up about my work, but hopefully they will recognise scenes that may have inspired me."