Armed with paint and brushes, children have been making their mark on Smart cars parked in Woodstock’s Town Square this week by covering them with artistic squiggles and spots. They are taking part in one of the many activities and workshops organised for the town’s third Art in Woodstock festival, which continues until November 1.

Visitors to the festival are encouraged to follow the Art Trail, which begins in The Marlborough Grill, Oxford Street, where the work of ten artists is on display. Works on show here include several urban landscapes by artist Sarah Moncrieff, who depicts city scenes in a very challenging way.

Photographs by Adrian Lack and a couple of quite remarkable string sculptures by Ruth Broadbent string are also displayed here.

Next door, at the Real Wood Company, visitors can walk through the shop’s delightful little sculpture garden and admire the figurative pieces created by sculptor Godfrey Phillips who has created some superb wall pieces in stainless steel (pictured). Colourful paintings by James Vinciguerra and Maureen Toomey are also on show here.

In the nearby Methodist Church a sound installation by Alison Perry adds an unusual feature to the festival and certainly warrants attention. You can view one of Alison’s paintings at the Creative gallery too.

It’s the Creative Gallery, which is displaying some vibrant, colourful pictures by young artists at the SENSS Ormerod Resource Base at Marlborough School, Although they are not officially part of the festival, you will also get a chance to see a delightful assortment of pictures drawn by local schoolchildren, on show at the Woodstock bookshop further down Oxford Street. The work of Unity Coombes is displayed at the bookshop, too.

At Iona House Gallery on the Market Place, you can view a lovely collection of scenic landscape pictures worked by Russian-born Elena Hensaw who highlights oil and acrylic paintings with pastels to great effect. There are three artists showing their work St Mary Magdalene Church, too, and the work of Jacqueline Hopkins can be seen at Well Spotted, Park Street.

Workshops for children include a Graffiti Portraits Workshop tomorrow and youngsters will get a chance to create a mysterious landscape using charcoal and surrealist inspiration on Saturday afternoon.

Talks for adults include a session with Michael Gabriel at the Marlborough Grill who will be discussing drawing live productions at the Oxford Playhouse on Friday evening.

This exciting festival continues until Sunday, making Woodstock the place to visit this weekend.