FABRIC kites embedded in wild and windy abstract landscapes are among the works in an exhibition by David Prentice.

Kate's Kites, at the Cowleigh Gallery, Malvern, until the end of August, provides insight into the life of the artist before he became known as "the man who paints the Malvern Hills".

In nearly 50 years, he has moved from figurative landscape painting in the 1950s, through extreme abstraction in the 1960s and 1970s, back to the familiar landscapes of recent years.

The work in the current exhibition, from a transitional period in the 1980s, includes two very large oil paintings with embedded kites, three relief-effect prints and eight small constructions of canvas, wood, string and drawing.

"There has always been a landscape base for my work, even in the hard-edge abstracts," said Mr Prentice.

"It's all to do with how you see landscape. I got very interested in the changing perception of landscape in the 20th Century, when we experience it chiefly through transport."

He was interested in making, designing and flying kites and called his 1983 exhibition Kate's Kites because his daughter was doing some research into kites at the time.