IT was a family affair for Dawlish artist Luke Steffens when he launched his first public exhibition.

Luke organised the two-day pop-up exhibition, held at the Strand Centre in Dawlish, as a way of showcasing his work alongside his father Brian, a well-known artist in the town, and his creative wife Caz.

Their work was on shown with other local artists Jackie Russ, Dave Furler and Darren Hale.

After the show, Luke thanked everyone who attended.

He said: ‘Thank you to all that came to our exhibition.

‘It was hard work but we all appreciate the support so much.

‘I’ve learned a lot and I’m making plans for future exhibitions.

‘It was so lovely to see so many people at the exhibition.’

Luke rediscovered his love of art during the Covid lockdown after a 30 year gap.

Although he is the son of an artist and studied art at college, Luke only came back to painting and drawing five years ago.

As an ‘unknown’ artist, many galleries would not provide exhibition space so Luke took the first step to publicly showing his art by organising his own exhibition alongside his family and other artists.

He said: ‘It was hard work by rewarding and I actually made some sales.

‘We hope this event will lead to more exhibitions showcasing more of the local talent in the area.

‘Most artists in the area don’t have exhibiting opportunities and my hope is we can build a good community based art movement and encourage more people to engage and enjoy their creative side.’

It was during the Covid lockdown Luke turned to painting when, by accident, he bought a set of cheap oil paints, watching online tutorials and ‘making up for lost time’.