A MAJOR retrospective of the work of one of Yorkshire’s greatest living artists can be seen at the Inspired by… gallery, Danby this month.

Peter Hicks: A Retrospective looks back over more than 60 years of work from an artist who has gained endless inspiration from the scenery and seasons of the Esk Valley in North Yorkshire, where he lives.

The exhibition can be seen at the gallery from Saturday, September 9 to Monday, October, 16.

The show will feature almost 300 works from the 80-year-old artist’s long career, including the work he is best known for dramatic landscapes of the North York Moors National Park.

His drawings will give insight into how his work develops, and the work will range in scale from 80 postcard-sized paintings to huge canvases. The earliest work dates from 1956 and is a portrait of sunflowers outside Peter’s first

studio – his father’s converted garage.

The story of the hospital ship Rohilla, which ran aground near Whitby in 1914 with the loss of 83 lives, has inspired another set of paintings in the exhibition.

Peter, who was born in East Yorkshire, but moved to the Esk Valley as a young child and has spent most of his life there, says the exhibition represents a lifetime of self-discovery as an artist.

“I revisit childhood thoughts and experiences and realise how important they are to my work.

“I’d be playing with my friends and would suddenly see, on a sunny day, how a mist would rise up and suck the colour from the surroundings.

“Those memories were logged and revisited much later in life, and that’s what I’ve continually done – visit and revisit things in this valley that have meaning and purpose.

“So when I look at a hillside, I’m looking at it as it is, but also seeing its history – how it’s evolved, how weather and time have changed it, and that’s very much a part of my practice as a painter.”

On Saturday, September 23, from 2pm to 4pm, Peter will be interviewed at the gallery by another of Yorkshire’s great landscape artists, photographer Joe Cornish.

Tickets for the talk are £5 and advance booking is recommended at northyorkmoors-peterhicks.eventbrite.co.uk