SHADOWY figures will appear around Colne town centre as part of a final degree sculpture project by artist Linda Erliz.

The mum-of-two, of Skipton Road, Colne, is in her last year of a BA Hons in fine art at the University of Central Lancashire.

She has to produce a piece for the final degree exhibition entitled 'and' but rather than have her work appear in Preston, she decided to bring it out into the community where she lives.

Linda, 35, said: "There are two parts of my life -- in Preston as a student and in Colne where my family and friends are.

"I have taken plaster casts of the hands and face of eight people and then cast them in resin in the workshop at Preston. I then made wire body shapes so I could position the finished sculptures how I wished and asked each person where they would like to be.

"One is in a school yard, my daughter Zara, is going to be up a tree, another will appear in the river and one will be on a roof."

The imaginative work will go on show from next weekend and last as long as the sculptures survive.

Linda, who has a son Aaron, 14, and 11-year-old Zara, said: "My children just ignore me but Zara agreed to be cast -- however she did not like herself when I had finished."

All of the hands and feet have been painted white and Linda searched the charity shops in Colne to get white clothing to fit each sculpture.

She said: "I wanted to create ghostly, shadowy images of people so they didn't actually look exactly like the person depicted and no-one would really be able to tell who was who."

Linda has been working on the project since last September and her kitchen has been busy while she cast the hands and face of five adults and three children aged 11, ten and eight.

The quick drying plaster bandage was wrapped round the faces and hands and took about five minutes to harden. It then took a couple of hours in the workshop in Preston for the resin casts to set.

She hopes to be able to take up sculpture full-time once her degree course finishes in the summer.

Anyone who wants to give Linda feedback on her art work can contact her on linda_erliz@hotmail.com