ARTIST George Heron has come up with a wheely good way to show off his latest masterpiece -- he has painted it on his car!

Now there is no fear of George, from Accrington, losing his car when he goes out shopping -- after all, who else has a car that looks like a lunar landscape?

"It's probably a great anti-theft deterrent," said George, of Queens Road West. "After all, it would be spotted straight away!"

The 68-year-old self-confessed eccentric has been a painter and musician all his life and his home is known throughout the area for its wide range of statues which adorn his windowsills. But is his taste in cars is what has drawn the most attention. While other people's attempts at modifying their cars usually only extend to a new spoiler, wheel trims or better stereo, George has now totally revamped two cars.

Back in 1999, the "recycled teenager", as he calls himself, created a "Millennium Car" by repainting an old Austin Montego. That was for a course he was studying at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. He included names of famous people who had a connection with the millennium, including Nostradamus, who predicted the world would end in 2000. But his latest effort is a labour of love, done to fill time because the world didn't end. His Peugeot 309 will never look the same again!

He said: "It took me two months to do and I even leaded the windows. I really enjoy doing it and seeing the looks I get from people makes it really worthwhile. I chose a lunar landscape because it had so much potential."

George started painting them in 1960 when he was in bands called Bolts, The Invaders and The Four Fours. He played guitar, drums, harmonica, tin whistle and the organ, and he painted designs on the band's vehicles and stage clothes.

But before he embarked on his latest project, he had to get rid of the Montego. "It is being used to promote a garage down south," said George. "There was a lot of publicity surrounding the car at the time so a lot of people were interested in it. But once I had got rid of that car, I was on to this one! A lot of people thought I was a gipsy because they used to paint designs on their vehicles too."

George, a grandfather, is used to publicity though. In 1997, an exhibition of the former lorry-driver's more contemporary works centred around a picture of Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana, painted just a fortnight before they died.

After their death, he painted a picture depicting them walking through the gates of paradise, which was inspired by comment made by Dodi's father, Harrods' owner Mohammed Al Fayed.

They were displayed in the Globe Gallery in Waterfoot -- and now Mohammed Al Fayed has a painting of Dodi by George!

And George added: "I used to have a house in Haslingden and I painted the ceiling black and stuck yoghurt pots up to make it look like a space station. You could say I'm a touch eccentric and extrovert!"