You can't make a silk purse...

... out of a sow's ear... or can you?

I took a stroll by the river in my town. The sun was just making its way through the clouds and there was a definite hint of Spring whispering through the greening willows. The riverside cafés and bars were bursting at the seams with jovial patrons enjoying the sudden warm weather. The punts and row boats had been dragged out of winter storage and laughing lovers paddled and poled their way up and down the river. Ducks, swans, moorhens, herons and even a dodo followed in their happy wake.

Dodo? Riverside café? Boats for hire? Jovial crowds?

Not in my town. River? Yes (and a canal!). Rubbish? Oh yes - there was actually a soiled nappy hanging in a tree. Shopping trolley caked in rust and weed? Yes.

When I saw the challenge at Inspiration Avenue this week to be about our towns there was not much that sprang to mind about mine in terms of artistic creation. Still, this was a challenge and in the end I managed a whole exhibition - turns out there's creative inspiration in the unlikeliest places... (although I didn't quite manage anything with the soiled nappy).

I present my first exhibit: Trolley on radioactive Riverbank (Photoshop helped here)

Hanging nicely next to Traditional English phone boxes (Photoshop again)

With a finale of interesting doorway at the Guildhall (altered photograph using bleach)

As you can see, things got slowly better!