Students with special educational needs from South Gloucestershire and Stroud College have become the first in the UK to create collaborative paintings using a unique Tunisian technique.

The group of 30 took on the challenge with the help of their tutor, Luke Palmer.

The resulting artwork will go on display soon as part of an exhibition at Kings Weston House in Bristol.

The guidelines for this art form stipulate that one person starts the painting, but anyone else can then join in and paint over others’ work.

The whole process of the work then takes place in complete silence.

The students, who are studying a preparation for work course, completed the challenge in groups of four.

They have created 16 new paintings, which are believed to be the first Tunisian Collaborative Paintings ever made in the UK, according to the college.

Student David McCairn, aged 16, said: “We didn’t know what each other would paint, so when it was finished it amazed me that I could see pictures of things within the image. I expressed what I was feeling when I painted it and that came out in the painting.

“It was a wonderful experience.”

Picture: From left: students Hassan Hussain, 17 and Jimmy Jenkins, 18, working on the Tunisian Collaborative Paintings