...Kendal is leading the way in stunning exhibitions.

As hotspots go, Kendal is on fire with Abbot Hall Art Gallery leading the way and packing the crowds in to see its Walter Sickert exhibition.

Just across the road at the Brewery, visual arts officer Trevor Avery continues to bring the creative talents of some of the region's finest into the arts centre's Warehouse (Catherine MacDiarmid and Sophie Henderson) and Sugar Store (Libby Edmondson) galleries.

And even plush spots such as Mint, on Highgate, are combining creativity and contemporary caf/bar culture with a splash of abstraction from top Green Door Studio painter Jill Pemberton with images that reflect Jill's interest in dance music.

Today (Friday), The Life and Times of George Romney kicks off at Kendal Town Hall until Sunday, August 22 (10am-5pm).

Organised by the town council's Picture Collection Working Party, the display includes its collection of paintings, portraits and sketches by Romney, including several portrait paintings of local dignitaries - and the great man's violin.

"It's exciting for the people of Kendal not only to have the opportunity to see some of their hidden treasures but also for the town to be able to pay its respects to the great man himself," Coun Austen Robinson, chairman of the working party, enthused.

Chairman of the Romney Society Martin Orrom was equally pleased: "This is the first exhibition ever arranged in Kendal Town Hall to celebrate George Romney's life, which was so closely connected to the town.

"Romney himself held a lottery of 20 pictures in the town hall in 1762 to raise money for his move to London and fame and fortune."

The Romney show ties in nicely with Kendal Arts Society's annual exhibition in the town hall, starting tomorrow (Saturday) until August 28 (Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, 4pm close on final day).

Among the huge variety of artists showing is Mary Lauritzen, an American artist living in Cumbria.

She trained at the Schuler School of Fine Arts at Baltimore.

Aged 23, she married a Dane, Hans, and after a few years moved to Denmark where she had several exhibitions, in between being a wife, business partner and mother of two boys.

After the death of her husband she married Christopher, an Englishman working at NATO headquarters in Belgium.

They retired in 1997 and moved to the Lakes.

Mary exhibits across the UK. Her style is representational with a strong love for colour, peopled' landscapes and city scenes, and, no doubt, one of the many attractions of the society's show.

Upstairs at Kendal Library, the exhibition space provides an excellent platform for many local artists. Showing until the end of August are the oil paintings of Rex Marsden (see Pick of the Week P15), including a fantastic eight-piece panorama of Skelwith Bridge to the Langdales.

Also on show are limited edition prints by Windermere artist Ken Burdon.

Peter Blaskett's own Kirkland art house Signature gallery joins the 70-plus businesses and organisations lighting up the town in this year's Kendal Windows on Art in September.

Signature's contribution to KWoA is an exhibition of work by Danny and Lara Clahane and runs from September 10.