A TALENTED artist intends to draw every single item in his grandad’s shed.

Lee Phillips, 34, is an art teacher at Sir Thomas Picton School. The shed, situated in Aberbargoed, contains tens of thousands of tools and pieces of hardware, left untouched since Handel Jones – a miner who loved to fix things - died 20 years ago, aged 60.

Lee has already had work selected for the Kyffin Williams drawing prize, and the Welsh Artist of the Year award. He is taking a year’s sabbatical to focus on his shed project, which will form the basis for a PhD and include large sketch books, framed drawings and a reproduction of the shed featuring free-standing, 2D drawings of its entire contents.

Handel was always supportive of Lee’s interest in art, and once went all the way to Cardiff to buy him a set of proper drawing pencils.

“We lived in the same street, so I saw him every day,” said Lee. “The project is about patience, and having the perseverance to follow things through. That’s an impulse you don’t see very often now, but that’s how my grandfather lived his life. I’m very patient. My grandmother says I’m the same as him, in that sense. Because of her memory problems, it’s hard to tell how she feels about the project, but she doesn’t want the shed itself to be changed.”

Handel worked at Elliott Colliery, now the site of The Winding House Heritage Centre.

Lee is taking a post there as artist in residence. In September 2015, the Centre will display his project before it moves to the National Museum of Wales’ Big Pit.

Lee – who is also looking at a collaboration with author Niall Griffiths - will run tie-in workshops with the exhibition there.

To view Lee’s incredible work, search Instagram for @leejohnphillips