TALENTED artist Oliver Steel will see his painting of Hereford Cathedral appreciated all around the world when it is reproduced on the cover of this year's Three Choirs Festival programme and booking form leaflet.

Oliver, aged 18, left the Cathedral School after A-levels last summer and is now at Cardiff University reading architecture.

"I am quite passionate about my art and painting," he said, "so it's a good thing".

He will be back for some of this year's festival events to support his brother, who sings in the Cathedral Choir.

Cathedral lay clerk Tim Symons, who was also responsible for putting together the 2003 Hereford Three Choirs Festival programme, was "very struck" with Oliver's painting when he first saw it.

"It's quite dramatic and impressionistic," he said. "It's got a John Piper-like quality."

Oliver's painting was not one of the official entries for the programme cover competition, though one may be used for the back cover. Over 3,000 copies of the programme book will be printed for this year's festival (Aug 6-11), with 45,000 copies of the booking form being circulated beforehand.