Families on the La'al Ratty will soon be able to view an artist's wildlife paintings as they chug past.

Sarah Taylor is taking her artwork out of her St Bees gallery and putting it up along the route of the popular steam train in the Eskdale Valley.

It's part of the Cumbrian arts festival C-Art – which begins on September 8 – and Sarah's work features in the Art in Extraordinary Places programme.

Sarah, of St Bees, said: "The aim of the project is to make art accessible to children and families in West Cumbria, an area with limited arts engagement and infrequent opportunities.

"I hope to change children's perspective on 'boring painting' and to inspire them to take an interest in art, to observe, to learn, and to spark a desire to try out some unusual painting techniques themselves."

Each passenger who boards the train will receive an eye-spy leaflet, which gives an introduction to the characters in the paintings and a short story to each one.

When Sarah first read the invitation to apply for the project, she said her initial thought was it would be "cool" to put paintings out into the landscape for people to find. The idea then evolved into paintings popping up as people travel by train.

"I began to think about the excitement of travelling by train as a child, and the delight of seeing something unexpected," she said. "My brainstorming lead me to the La'al Ratty. The perfect location to exhibit these works.

"The miniature steam train runs through the natural habitat of the animals in my paintings, it doesn’t go too fast, and it is a favourite with children and adults alike."

Sarah has raised funds to support the project. The bulk of the money will go into converting her paintings into largescale weatherproof images, which need to be big enough to see from a moving train and sturdy enough to last the two weeks.

The rest of the money will go towards framing and installation costs.

Sarah is well known for her vibrant, contemporary paintings of British wildlife.

She says her unique style of splashy colours and intricate geometrics is perfect for anyone with an adventurous taste in art.