A FAN of one of Britain’s greatest painters has recreated long-forgotten paint colours to produce a watercolour based on the artist’s work.

Chris Ware, 50, has produced a painting of Helmsley Castle in the style of JMW Turner.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s artist-in -residence spent a year turning a sketch of the castle by the 19th-century artist into the watercolour.

He said: “I went to the Tate Britain, London, for my 50th birthday and I was able to go into the archives and I asked to see Turner’s sketches.

“I was handling his original works and I must have had hold of about £10m-worth of paintings.

“I also had a look at Turner’s sketchbooks and came across one called Helmsley Sketchbook, which had a sketch of the castle in.

“He never got round to finishing it and I thought it would be a good idea to do a finished version.”

In a bid to make the watercolour as authentic as possible, Mr Ware spoke to his paintmakers, Winsor and Newton, about the colours used.

Many of the colours used by JMW Turner, such as barium chlorate, smalt and weld, no longer exist.

Mr Ware said: “I spoke to Winsor and Newton about it and they said their chief chemist would get in touch.

“He called me back and said ‘Here are the recipes for the old colours which can be made up using modern paint.’”

Mr Ware experimented with the colours on other works before using them on the Helmsley Castle piece.

The Helmsley Castle watercolour will be among others to go on show on platform two at Pickering station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, from tomorrow until October, 3, from 10am-5pm.

Entry is free.

The works will then go on show at Mr Ware’s studio at Levisham station, near Pickering.