AN art teacher-turned vicar in Kidderminster is rejoicing at having his paintings exhibited in Worcester Cathedral.

Works by the Rev Andrew Vessey of St John the Baptist Church and Kidderminster West Team Ministry will be on display in the Dean's chapel until Friday, October 31. The 59-year-old, who taught at secondary schools across the UK and Europe before training to be a priest 17 years ago, said he was thrilled to be able to combine his vocation with his flair for art.

His work is being shown alongside that of the Rev Kenneth Crawford, Rev Andrew White and Canon Stephen Hutchinson.

The exhibition of paintings and vestments includes the last painting he completed as a teacher, as well as more recent pen drawings, watercolours and gouache paintings.

Andrew, who has a studio in his Kidderminster vicarage, said he was thrilled to be able to combine his vocation with his flair for art.

Describing his work as "semi abstract and surreal", he added many of the exhibits were based on landscapes he had written poetry about. "I've always painted - I was painting when I was a boy and it was the one thing I was really good at when I was at school," he added.

"When I left school I went to Chelsea College of Art and Design and then I turned to teaching art in secondary schools in the UK and abroad for 18 years.

" In many ways it's the artist in me that made me become a priest - but I'm still an artist."