ABSTRACT paintings of the Malvern Hills by renowned Malvern artist David Prentice are being included in a prestigious London exhibition.

About 20 works by the artist, including some very large ones, will be exhibited at ArtLondon in the Duke of York's headquarters in Chelsea.

To create his large studio-painted oil canvases, Mr Prentice first walks and cycles the hills with sketchbooks, creating reed and ink drawings and watercolours.

The resulting paintings of the hills, for which he has a dedicated band of followers, tend to be as if from above and from a distance.

Mr Prentice's Stow-on-Wold gallery proprietor John Davies said: "He has this gift of being able to see the hills from a greater height than they are. One of the things we put in our catalogue is a comparison with Rupert Bear. He was always looking out at great tracts of country as if he had an overview."

The gallery's catalogue says Mr Prentice's paintings have the power to instantly summon up the strong, emotive response to the deep fabric of the British landscape in common with artists such as John Constable from the 19th Century and Paul and John Nash, Eric Ravilious and Richard Eurich, from the 20th.

ArtLondon opened on Wednesday (May 22) and runs to to Sunday at Duke of York's headquarters, Cheltenham Terrace, off Kings' Road, Chelsea.

For further information call the John Davies Gallery on 01451 831698.