KEIGHLEY artist Ben Snowden is having a busy spring and summer with several exhibitions and a hoped-for competition win.

Ben has been shortlisted for the Visual Art Open 2017 contest at the Chester Arts Fair.

He will feature in a group exhibition of established and emerging artists, entitled Spring Into Summer, at the Silson Contemporary gallery in Harrogate, from May 13 to July 28.

Some of his paintings will be in the summer show at the Kunsthuis Gallery in Crayke from June 16 to August 20.

Ben said: “I’ve recently just exhibited two paintings at the AppArt Easter Art Exhibition and Sculpture Trail 2017 at Priors Field School in Surrey.

“The exhibition was opened by award-winning sculptor Philip Jackson.”

Ben’s exhibition involvement follows a couple of recent commissions in his hometown.

Stan Greenwood, guitarist with long-established Keighley Goth rock band Skeletal Family, asked Ben to create artwork for the new albums Skeletal Family – Acoustic and Ghost Dance – Spin The Wheel.

The albums will be available to buy on the Skeletal Family website and during the band’s upcoming tour with The Mission.

Ben said: “I was also commissioned by the Sean Jukes Portrait Studio in Cavendish Street to create a large hand-painted backdrop for portrait and band shoots.”

Ben has previously exhibited alongside artists such as Andrew Salgado, Mandy Payne, Gillian Hyland, Andrew McIntosh and Sarah Harris.

He said: “My paintings are influenced by the human form, abstraction, the natural world and the poetry of William Blake.

“I work with a variety of different mediums such as enamel paint, graphite, oils on materials such as paper, fabric, wood and board.”