Artist gets £35,000 surprise

A LITTLE-known Scots artist whose paintings sell for a few hundred pounds was stunned to learn that examples of his early work are worth £35,000.

Dennis Clegg is re-assessing his worth after he a businessman asked him to restore a piece bought by his father in Airdrie almost 40 years ago.

The illuminated installation depicting New York´s skyline was abandoned in a garage in Yorkshire for years. But this week it will have pride of place in a chic office in the south of England after it turned out to be worth a small fortune.

Mr Clegg, (71) of Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, graduated at Manchester College of Art in 1960. For 35 years he has worked as an interior designer while continuing to paint as a hobby.

He was astounded when he learned leading fine art auctioneers Christies had placed such a big valuation on the piece.

Dennis said: "I have quite a lot of photographs of the bigger installations I did in the 60s, but didn´t keep a record of everything."

The mural had originally been commissioned by Lanarkshire entrepreneur John Kane. After his family moved south, the piece lay for years uncared for in storage until his son, Mark, of Berkhamstead, near London, inherited it.