TRAMS, steam trains, horse-drawn ploughs and long-gone buildings conjured from the brush of artist John Chapman evoke memories of bygone Lancashire. John told PAULINE HAWKINS about his lifetime's work.

OVER the years the work of many influential artists has not been recognised until they have gone to the great studio in the sky. But the talents of Blackburn painter John Chapman were spotted when he was in his early 20s and he has made a lucrative living from doing what he enjoys most -- painting forms of transport from the days before the Intercity train and the invasion of Japanese cars.

He is meticulous in his attention to detail, a skill that he has honed since his days as a technical illustrator with a Blackburn engineering firm when he drew diagrams for manuals dealing with spare parts.

But sketching modes of transport was his greatest joy and ultimately it was a commissioned painting of a racing car that set him on the road to success as a full-time artist.

John, who will be 56 in September, said: "I have always been interested in art. It is the one thing I found I had a skill to do and even at school I was always top in art. My brother Michael, who is eight years older than me, was a big influence -- he was extremely good at drawing and I used to copy him. I think he was quite pleased that I found his work interesting and stimulating."

Having left school at 15 with no qualifications, he started work for the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

"I had done a few drawings and they took me on as an advertising layout artist," he said. "It was January 1, 1962 and I remember going to work in the snow."

Two years later he left and took a pre-diploma course in art, design, printing, lithography and applied arts at Blackburn Art College.

"After two years another job came up as a technical illustrator. I had my sights set on going to the Royal College of Art in London. One or two of the students went, but it wasn't to be for me," he said.

Teenager John liked drawing cars, locomotives and aeroplanes and believes it was on the strength of his portfolio that he landed the illustrator's job with Chaseside Engineering of Blackburn. But after another couple of years the excavator firm JCB came along and took over the company, offering John a job at its headquarters in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

As John pondered his future Anthony Bamford, the son of JCB's owner, spotted one of his racing scenes. Bamford commissioned John to paint a picture of his beloved racing car and the offer proved to be the turning point in John's working life.

"I thought perhaps I could make a living from my pictures," he said.

"I was living at home with my parents and had no overheads and no mortgage. I got my portfolio together and went off in search of galleries interested in acquiring paintings.

"During my time at art college I had built up a fair collection of work. At the time I had no interest in selling them. It was done purely as a hobby. But in 1968 steam locomotives stopped being used on British railways and there was a growing interest in steam railways.

"I went to a gallery in Manchester and they took quite a few of my paintings."

His work began to sell and since then John hasn't looked back.

"I absolutely love it. I wouldn't want to do anything else," he said. A recent two-week stint as a juror at Preston Crown Court tore him away from his easel, but he took his sketch book with him and worked when he was not required in the courtroom.

John's love of the tranquillity and charm of canalside and harbour scenes, farms with horse-drawn ploughs and carts and the golden age of steam has allowed him to create pictures in oils and acrylics that can sell for several thousand pounds each. But he draws the line at two types of work -- still life and portraits -- so it's unlikely we will ever see a portrait of the Queen by John Chapman.

John and his wife Gillian, a former library assistant, live in St Peter's Close, Salesbury, where he has been working for the past two years on a series of new paintings which are about to be exhibited for the first time. More than 30 works of art featuring street scenes of bygone Blackburn, other Lancashire towns and landscapes, many drawn from photographs and mixed with John's memories, will be featured at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery in Museum Street, Blackburn, from next Saturday until Saturday, September 28.

He also has a studio in Bolton and an imaginative agent -- Keith Lee, a director of Blackburn Rovers -- who has found other audiences for John's work. Decorative plates and even jigsaws now feature his art and he has painted the scene outside Harrods which has been transferred into an image on biscuit tins for sale in the famous London department store.

John now hopes to set up a website to allow the world to see his images of a bygone age.

John will be in the gallery to meet visitors, answer questions about his work and sign copies of the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition on Saturday, August 31, from 1pm-3pm.

Everyone attending is welcome to enter a free prize draw for a signed limited edition print worth £150. The originals on exhibition are all for sale.

The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-4.45pm (closed Sunday and Monday).