Lottery scratch cards used in work of artist, 16 Published duration 28 April 2018

image copyright James Owen Thomas image caption James Owen Thomas uses discarded scratch cards in his work

An artist has produced a series of images all made from discarded scratch cards.

James Thomas, 16, said he had the idea for the works after seeing a card floating in a puddle.

His mosaic-style collages feature scenes from the Yorkshire Dales, where he now lives, and his native East Sussex.

The teenage artist said as far as he is aware he is the only person doing this kind of work.

image copyright James Owen Thomas image caption His work features wildlife, but he has also composed landscape images and other subjects

"Four years ago, I came across a discarded scratch card floating in a puddle of water," he said.

"I then began to see how scratch cards were littering our streets and parks and thought I have to do something about this, so started picking them up."

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image copyright James Owen Thomas image caption The teenage artist said some pieces can take months to complete

The youngster, who said he is inspired by David Hockney, now has thousands of scratch cards, which he keeps for future works.

He now plans to produce an image of his great grandfather, which has been a challenge because of the difficulties of finding cards that provide a good match for human skin tone.

image copyright Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority image caption Some of his work is currently on show at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority offices in Bainbridge