An artist in the family

My grandfather was a skilled artist - well in my eyes he was. He also taught art at secondary school.

We have this picture hanging in our house. It was produced using a technique called batique. This involves covering areas with wax and then using a dye to colour the uncovered areas. This is performed for each colour in the image; a very painstaking and precise process.

My dad also recently showed me a load of art that he had found that he had stored in the loft that his dad had also produced.

He drew a set of knots - very simple but effective.

And my favourite piece, a pencil sketch of a tree.

During the second world war he serviced Wellington Bombers in the desert. We also have a handwritten maintenance manual he produced with lots of pen drawings he did to cover different areas of the plane. We plan to donate this to a museum that is restoring one of the last of these bombers as they may find it useful.

He was also an excellent wood carver. One of my most treasured possessions is a carving he made for one of my birthdays of my childhood hero, the cricketer Ian Botham. Apparently he had my grandmother standing in the kitchen with a broom to get the pose right.

He once tried to teach me the skills involved in wood carving. I still remember spending the day in his shed with him carving something that vaguely looked like a penguin - which I still have. Unfortunately his artistic skills have not been passed on to me.