Qatar exhibition display for artist Jason Wilsher-Mills

Jason Wilsher-Mills will fly to Doha, Qatar next week for the opening of the exhibition

An artist from Lincolnshire is to display his work at an international exhibition.

Jason Wilsher-Mills, 46, who has chronic polyneuropathy and chronic fatigue syndrome, is frequently bed-bound by his condition.

He is one of four British artists heading to Qatar to display their work at the Museum of Islamic Art.

Mr Wilsher-Mills, from Sleaford, said his inclusion was "like being asked to play for England".

He recently exhibited a piece on the Disability Discrimination Act at the Houses of Parliament and was also commissioned to make a banner marking 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta.

The artist is one of four British artists displaying their work in the museum's 'Ilham' exhibition

His latest exhibition entry came about after meeting two Qatar ambassadors at the Shape Gallery, London, during a residency there.

"If someone had said to me 10 years ago you are going to give up your well-paid job to be a full-time artist, I would have said 'you are crackers'," said Mr Wilsher-Mills.

"Art is a way of aspiring to be something else, and I use my art as a painkiller.

"Hopefully through doing this I will inspire other people to pick up a brush or pencil."

Mr Wilsher-Mills's 'Portrait of the other Western Gentleman, looking East' is his interpretation of another painting in the Doha gallery's collection.

Head of the museum, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bint Khalifa Al-Thani, has a worldwide reputation as an art collector, having set auction records buying paintings by Cezanne, Bacon and Gauguin.

Nadia El'Sebai, from the British Council, said: "She herself is a power house in the art world and the museum's collection is absolutely stunning.

"And it is an absolute rare opportunity for a contemporary artist from the UK to be exhibiting at the museum."

The Banner about the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act was exhibited at the Houses of Parliament