A RETIRED art teacher has been exploring Europe looking for inspiration.

Humph Hack, former deputy head at Nunnery Wood High School in Worcester, travels across the continent seeking picturesque scenes and examples of grand architecture to paint.

The 64-year-old, of Battenhall, Worcester, has now secured his first commercial exhibition.

His work, from nudes to paintings of Rome and Barcelona, will be on show at Tiger Arts in Malvern Link next month.

“It’s fantastic to be able to display my work and share my enthusiasm for painting with people in a local venue,” said Mr Hack, who studied at Birmingham College of Art before becoming a teacher.

“I retired about four-and-a-half years ago. Having looked over kids’ shoulders for 30-odd years I decided to see if I could still do it. At first I tackled still life and nudes and then I moved on to architecture.”

Mr Hack has already travelled to France, Italy, Spain, Marrakesh and Prague collecting information on grand designs.

His new exhibition will open on Friday, July 4, and runs for three weeks. For details, see tigerarts.co.uk or visit artgallery.co.uk/artist/ humph_hack to see examples of Mr Hack’s work.