Abstract artist from Colchester exhibits his boat-inspired work at Alresford Creek

The large spray-painted pieces depicting boats and angry-looking waters belong to Lee Thomas, a creative artist from Rotherham, but now based in Colchester.

Quirky wooden signs guide people to the rustic shed where some of Lee’s work is being exhibited in a bid to expose people to art in unexpected places.

But as someone who has freelanced all his life, it is also a way of alerting the public to his eclectic vision and art.

He said: “It’s interesting how the tide comes right up into that little shed and how the weather is affecting how the pictures look.

“One of the pieces had gone for a swim in the sea and come back.

“There’s a gallery in Wivenhoe I’m hoping to exhibit my boat and sea stuff in later because I like the idea of seeing what happens when they’re left to the elements.

"It’s another way to generate interest in my work but the boat pieces also link to the environment they’re in.”

“My focus has been boats for quite a while, but I’ve been switching back to portraying animals and have an idea for a series of American paintings.”

For the past three years, dad Lee has been visiting his ten-year-old daughter in the US, where she lives just outside of Portland.

When his daughter was born, he began to focus more intently on art and as she moved, his artistic interest turned to boats.

At first Lee, 43, took three large chalkboards to the creek and in just a few months he has added a further eight. Some of the smaller ones have disappeared but he expected it.

To create them he used a type of spray paint designed for covering furniture, acrylic graphic pens and abstract photos to add depth.

He added: “Everyone has been positive and likes the idea of it. There’s something in the documentation aspect of it, in seeing how it develops over however long I leave it.”

“As a freelancer, you can’t do enough really to be seen. You can never stop.”

To see more of Lee’s work, go to gallerydesign.co.uk.