A HUGE painting made using more than 40 gallons of paint will be the centrepiece of an exhibition marking the opening of a new North Yorkshire attraction.

The 24ft-long oil painting of a Yorkshire bluebell wood is one of 20 landscapes on a grand scale that will be on show in the Garden Rooms at Tennants' Auctioneers, in Leyburn, a £8m venue designed for a wide range of cultural events and exhibitions.

The pictures are by Hugh Miller, a Harrogate artist who has been likened to David Hockney.

Pushing Paint, which opens on October 2, will feature other giant canvases depicting London, Edinburgh and Paris.

Miller, who was born in Harrogate, is a graduate of Chelsea College of Art and Design and was tutored under Turner Prize-winner Chris Ofili and the renowned artist Nicholas May.

He works from a large studio in a disused Yorkshire flax mill and is supported by the investment bank BNP Paribas, currently showing a series of his work entitled Colour and Form at its London headquarters.

The Times art correspondent, Simon Tait, has praised Miller's work for expressing “a new language of painting”, while Reg Hayden, former head of Liverpool Art College, described him as “one of Britain’s best-kept secrets, working on a scale only paralleled by the likes of David Hockney and Gerhard Richter”.

Mr Miller said: “I’m incredibly excited about exhibiting in my home county. With the Pushing Paint series, I’m exploring landscape and cityscapes in a heavily textured sculptural style, using whole tubes of paint pushed straight on to the canvas, creating an exciting three dimensional surface.

"At first, and up close, the paintings look abstract – but when you step back and look from further away, they metamorphosis into recognisable scenes. The paintings are designed to work at many levels, from being involved in the busy, clashing contrasts of colours and textures at close range, to a more expansive experience found at distance.”

The exhibition runs until October 18 with a private view on Thursday, October 9, from 6pm, sponsored by Bloom Gin.