AN ARTIST from Abertillery is up for a prestigious national prize.

Peter Archer of Six Bells, who has been painting for the past 55 years, is one of 80 nominees for the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, which recognises contemporary British artists working in painting and drawing.

The 70-year-old has been nominated for his oil painting Cliff Life, depicting a misty scene of white cliffs, and will be exhibited as part of the competition at the Mall galleries in London next month.

Mr Archer, who has previously been nominated for the prize three times and twice been awarded a runner’s up prize, said his recent artworks were all of landscapes from his imagination.

“For the past 15 years I’ve been painting the coast", he said.

“I don’t know why, I was painting the landscape where I live quite a lot and the idea of painting the sear started to bubble up.”

On Cliff Life, he said: “I see it as the south coast, like the chalk cliffs of Dover.”

The winners of the competition, who stand to win between £15,000 and £2,000, will be announced on Monday, March 6.

Chairman of the award’s organisation committee Ian Rowley said he was delighted by the standard of the entries for the prize, saying: “At a time when British representational art is in danger of losing its way and being ignored by much of the art establishment, this shows the tremendous desire among artists to capture and shed light upon the real world.”