TED Holden always enjoyed painting "the odd picture or two".

"Nothing major," he says, "just when I had the time."

So he had to keep pinching himself when his first collection went on show in Victoria Square at this year's Bolton Festival.

It was the 74-year-old grandfather's first solo exhibition and he chuckles when he thinks about it.

"If you'd have told me 10 years ago that I would be having my own exhibition, well, I wouldn't have believed it."

Ted, who lives in the Great Lever area, retired from his job as an electrical fitter 10 years ago with plans to potter about the garden and paint.

He'd done an art history course as a young man but soon realised the phrase "struggling artist" rang true and chose another career path. "But once I retired," he says, "I enrolled on a Painting for Leisure course at Bolton college and began painting as often as I could -- and I never really stopped."

Ted, a member of Bolton Arts Circle, captures all kinds of scenes on canvas -- working in water colours, oils and acrylics and he takes inspiration from photographs that catch his eye or simply through his own imagination.

However, it is the sea that inspires him to pick up his brushes.

"I love painting boats," he smiles, "I'd love to live by the sea and paint all day."

Meanwhile he has to be content with his "studio" at the bottom of his beautiful garden.

"I wouldn't call it a studio," laughs the man who cites Lowry as his inspiration, "it's a shed but I think I've made it rather homely. I spend ages in here -- sometimes late into the night -- just painting."

And how did he feel after his first exhibition?

"Oh, I really enjoyed it," he smiles, "and I sold two paintings. One is on its way to India as we speak.

"Exhibiting on my own was very much a learning experience, completely different from doing it as a group.

"There's a lot of lugging things around, but I had some help and I really, really enjoyed it.

"The weather was beautiful and, as I sat and painted, people would come over and watch and chat.

"Yes, it was a great experience and I'm busy preparing for next time."