CRITICS of modern art often scoff that a small child could do better.

At Penhill Primary School, they have been putting this to the test.

With the help of professional artist Gordon Dickinson, children have been recreating works in the style of abstract greats like Jackson Pollock and Picasso.

And they've even tried their hand at mimicking Brit-Art luminary Damien Hurst.

The results are so impressive that some would be hard-pressed to tell them from the real thing.

Mr Dickinson, 42, from Purton, said: "Some of them are pretty good people would recognise them as a Mondrian or a Picasso. Turner was probably the most difficult.

"Anyone who knew anything about art would know these are not the real thing, but they would probably recognise the style."

Every child at the 500-pupil school has been involved in the sessions, creating eight works of art on 6ft by 4ft sheets of MDF board.

Some 75 six-year-olds joined in throwing paint around to create a work in the anarchic style of American abstract artist Jackson Pollock.

Another group used cotton wool buds to create thousands of dots to mimic the style of French impressionist painter Georges Seurat.

Mr Dickinson said: "There are certain artists which they cover now on the curriculum, and we gave the children a choice of which artists they wanted to do.

"They've come out surprisingly well.

"To do Pollock we got them to fling paint around but it's actually very difficult to do that well."

He added: "The children find it interesting to be working with a professional artist rather than a teacher.

"They can't believe I do this for a job.

"We show them how they can get involved in art and really enjoy it.

"The children have all been absolutely brilliant."

The eight painters covered by the Penhill youngsters were Kandinsky, Picasso, Mondrian, Seurat, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Damien Hurst and JMW Turner.