Network Nine is set to premiere a new series in a bid to capitalise on the success of programs on rival channels such as ABC TV’s Anh’s Brush With Fame (below left) and SBS TV’s long-running US-made cult instructional program The Joy of Painting still being screened almost 30 years after the death of its star Bob Ross. (below)

Nine has surprised industry observers by recruiting federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to showcase his painting skills as host of the new series to be called No Your Art. (main picture)

Network insiders tell me the show is the brainchild of Nine chair Peter Costello and is aimed at showing the softer side of Mr Dutton to voters in the lead-up to the next federal election.

But my sources also tell me that the project is not going as smoothly as Mr Costello might have wished.

“The new program will see Mr Dutton painting his impressions of well-known Australians,” one well-place Nine source told me.

“We hope viewers will be drawn to the fact that Mr Dutton is not known as a painter, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bring his own unique skills and style to the canvas.

“We’ve had him practising for several months on portraits of members of the SBS production staff and so far all he has turned out are what seem to be different versions of the word ‘NO’, although when asked he can explain in detail the nuances he sees in his own work and how it reflects the sitter’s inner-self.

“Any-hoo, we hope that he has progressed sufficiently to enable us to shoot the first episode in the next few weeks and have it go to air in a month or so as Peter Costello wants.

“If he hasn’t improved by then we really don’t think it will matter all that much to viewers of these types of programs.

“After all, Anh Do’s show is a big hit and the last time I watched it I came in late to the episode and couldn’t work out why rock singer Jimmy Barnes was praising what I thought was a portrait of actor Magda Szubanski,” the source said.

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