AS A Clarets legend Jimmy McIlroy used the football pitch as his canvas. But the former Northern Ireland star has now turned his skills to artistry of a different kind - painting.

Away from the hurly-burly of the game, Jimmy is now content creating an array of watercolour portraits.

The 72-year-old former Turf Moor hero took a course at the town's college last summer following the death of his wife, Barbara, 72, in February 2002.

Jimmy, a keen golfer who lives in Rosehill Avenue, Burnley, said he started painting in the late 90s.

He said: "I started doing the painting as a hobby but it was getting to the point where I was dragging my feet and wasn't really doing much.

"I just kept putting things off and saying I'll do it another day, so I decided to bite the bullet and go to the college to take part in the classes which turned out to be quite interesting and helped me improve my painting skills."

Jimmy, who has three grandchildren, Catherine, Tara and Bethany, has created various portraits since his early painting days.

He paints from pictures and has impressed people with his portraits of Marylin Monroe, Roy Keene, Tony Blair and Prince Charles.

He added: "I have given most of them away to friends and family or whoever is daft enough to take them but I have also given some away for them to be auctioned for charity.

"I don't know who would buy them but if it's for a good cause it makes it all the more worthwhile."

Jimmy is widely regarded as being Burnley FC's greatest ever player, making 497 appearances and scoring 131 goals between 1950 and 1963. He also won 55 caps for Northern Ireland, starred in Burnley's First Division championship team of 1959/60 and went on to become a respected local journalist.