THERE was plenty of painting going on at the Ashmolean Museum, but not a brush in sight.

At one of the museum’s art sessions last week, young visitors were creating pictures based on the exhibits.

But the catch was they weren’t allowed to use a single paint brush.

Rowan Guthrie, education officer at the Ashmolean, said: “We asked the children to be inspired by the Chinese paintings in our gallery.

“We wanted them to do big, bold brush stokes so we gave them all kinds of things like cardboard, bubblewrap and straws.

Anne O’Brien from Deddington was visiting the museum with her daughter Lois, three, when they decided to join in.

Lois said: “I painted a picture of a car. My parents have hung it up.”

The Ashmolean will continue its free drop-in art sessions next week on Wednesday and Thursday between 1pm and 4pm.