NIGEL MASON

From the age of 13, he taught himself to paint by studying the Old Masters and drawing what was around him. At the age of 20, he hitch-hiked from Leeds to Paris to see a Picasso exhibition at the Louvre. With no money, he lived on milk and oranges and slept rough at nights, but he says it was all worth it! The painter – who attained a fine art degree in his 50s – depicts a variety of nostalgic tableaus, beach scenes and figurative works. His influences include Walter Sickert, Édouard Vuillard and James Whistler, with Nigel considering his work a form of social realism.

Nigel says: “I’d describe it as small narrative vignettes – or painting versions of film stills – which capture intimate moments in time and observations of life, from the mundane to the profound.”