ARTIST Peter Howson hopes to raise thousands to help autistic people by giving a valuable painting of John Lennon to charity.
Howson's daughter Lucie, 21, has the autistic spectrum disorder Asperger's syndrome and he was diagnosed with a milder form of the condition in 1993, when he was 34.
He has now donated the Lennon painting, one of a series he did of the former Beatle, to the charity ENABLE.
Another of the series was sold for s50,000 recently.
The portrait will be auctioned at the Big Apple Ball in Glasgow in September.
Howson, who has also painted controversial nude portraits of Madonna, also revealed he has plans to create a special painting about autism which he will also donate to the auction.
He added: "I help out ENABLE probably once every year but this time it's a bit more major.
