A FORMER pitman is showing paintings which chronicle his life underground.

Work by Tom Lamb at the Mall gallery in Crook's civic centre depicts life at Craghead colliery and Busty pit where he worked for 27 years from the age of 14.

He was such a keen artist he would even draw caricatures and portraits on the whitewashed walls of the pit shaft.

These pictures in oil and watercolour, on show until January 30, reveal the cramped, dark, arduous and dangerous conditions of the mines.

The extent to which times change was illustrated recently when Mr Lamb was amazed by a small boy asking him what coal was. In most homes, open fires have long gone and coal is no longer part of the domestic scene.

On Wednesday, Mr Lamb gave a painting demonstration in the gallery, answered questions and talked about his work.

The gallery is open from Monday-Thursday (8.30-5pm) and Friday (8.30-4.30). Admission is free, and there is wheelchair access.

l Coming up soon at Crook is The Art of Deception, an exhibition of colour, photography and trompe l'oeil, by the Berlin-born artist Rolf Wojciechowski.

He has exhibited widely around the world as well as in England, and now lives at North Shields.

The Art of Deception, described as a case of life imitating art imitating life, will be on show at the Mall gallery in the civic centre from February 1-28.

His recent work includes mixed media and trompe l'oeil collages in which photographed and laser printed replicas of specific objects are painstakingly assembled into recreations of the objects the images represent.

He says the line between reality and illusion is blurred, and the reliability of perception questioned. Seeing isn't always believing.