CREATIVE youngsters and adults took full advantage of the first session of a new arts project designed to explore and help promote the riches of the East Wight.

Vectis Housing’s Wild About Wight teamed up with Newport's Quay Arts to launch the initiative at Sandown Library.

Dozens of people joined Island artists Hannah George, Babs Gowan, Caroline Underwood and Ian Whitmore, together with Vectis Housing's communities team, to explore the East Wight, both natural and built, through a wide range of art processes.

These processes included print-making, clay impressions, collage and drawing.

With mini-postcards for canvasses, the art produced, in print and collage, was inspired by what was 'on their doorstep' — from rare plant and invertebrate species and marine life, to landscapes, buildings and Sandown Bay’s dinosaur heritage.

Others headed into Sandown town centre to collect clay impressions of street architecture and made laminates of wildflowers, helping to create a snapshot of the town today.

The artists will be running 12 more Wild About Wight workshops in various locations around the East Wight through until March 2019.

The project will culminate in a grand art exhibition at Quay Arts — timed to coincide with the International Year of the Biosphere.

Maria Wilkinson, Vectis Housing's communities team manager, said: "Art in all its forms is a brilliant way of helping us to access and learn about nature and local heritage, while the workshops provide an informal, friendly way to meet new people and learn new skills.

"There will be many ways to engage between now and 2019, with each of the workshops free to join, to people of all ages."

For more information on forthcoming workshops, look out for Wild About Wight on the Quay Arts, Natural Wight and the Vectis Housing Association websites, as well as Facebook and Instagram.