THE artwork of a former student is set to go on display at Hereford's Royal National College for the Blind.

Not your average artist, Lenny Jordan is a gym enthusiast with qualifications in personal training, massage and complementary therapies, and counselling.

But he has chosen to pursue a career in art, following a recent revival of his passion, and has created several large pieces of work which will go on display.

He said: "I have been interested in art from a young age. Realising that I was not simply ‘short sighted’ but that I have a degenerative eye condition called Keratoconus, I put down my brushes and sketch pads in 1999.

"After talking to a colleague, who was a mature student at a local art college, my passion for art was reignited and we spent many hours discussing techniques, different artists’ styles and mediums. We looked at various forms of contrast on sketch pads and found that, although I had such limited vision, the magic for being creative in art could be a possibility again.”

A former adult trainee at The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), Lenny was approached by the college to create several large works of art.

Influenced by Heather Rooney, who uses coloured pencils to copy photographic images of people, Lenny’s love of sport and previous study of anatomy and physiology at RNC led him to sketch images of the body in different forms.

The initial sketches are undertaken in the kitchen-turned-studio of his home in Luton; he then paints in acrylic and oils at the college in Hereford, where they will go on display around thePoint4.

Ten large pieces will be on show in total, capturing various aspects of leisure and fitness. The first three are up, showing football, judo and a male gym user, and the fourth – depicting a female using weights – has just been completed.

Sean Davies, Assistant Manager at thePoint4, said: "thePoint4 and RNC are excited to showcase the incredible art work produced by Lenny Jordan. As a former student of the college and a qualified personal trainer, Lenny is the perfect fit for us.

“His art represents what thePoint4 is all about; the cross over between providing quality fitness services for the local community and giving a platform for visually impaired people to succeed and excel.”

As an artist with a visual impairment, going out and ‘experiencing’ the visual world is not without its challenges.

He is not always able to rely upon his limited sight and uses his other senses: sound, smell, the feeling of the ground beneath his feet, and the textures nature has created. Lenny freely admits that because he doesn’t see everything, he doesn’t paint everything.

Lenny aims to create a greater awareness of ‘the art of visual impairment’ and to share his passion with people from a variety of diverse backgrounds.

During opening times, members of the public are free to visit thePoint4 to view Lenny’s artwork. For opening hours, visit thepoint4.co.uk