A comfy armchair with pipe and slippers is the last thing on the mind of Ken Newman, the Porthcawl artist, who at the age of 80 is now producing some of his finest work.

He works in a range of media, including watercolour, acrylic and oils, to produce a varied body of accomplished pictures ranging from landscapes and seascapes through to abstract work inspired by literature and especially the American poet Emily Dickinson.

His involvement with art began at school, when in 1935 his art teacher arranged for him to attend night school to study commercial art, and he was subsequently offered a place in the Art School in Birmingham.

"At the last moment, however, my parents persuaded me to go out into the world and get a proper job," explained Ken.

From then on art had to be relegated to his leisure time, but he continued to paint throughout his working life, and with increasing determination following his retirement.

"Through the years many changes have taken place in my treatment of subject matter, technique and quality of work. Indeed much of my output still ends up at the local tip. However, the pictures that I am now exhibiting represent a small sample of what has survived so far."

Ken Newman describes the criteria for his work as 'quite rigorous' in using the four essential ingredients of emotion, intellect, imagination and skill in making each picture.

"I try to avoid a mechanical rendering of a subject such as can easily occur when copying from photographs," he explained. "A practice that can be developed to a very high degree, skill wise, but the results can easily lack the originality and freshness that one is entitled to expect from a creative imagination. For this reason I use photographs merely as a reference material and the picture tends to evolve almost spontaneously as I work. For me, a picture is a frozen poem."

Until recently, few of Ken's paintings were seen outside his home. It was not until earlier this year that he was persuaded to mount his first exhibition in his home town of Porthcawl where 15 paintings were sold.

His new exhibition opens at Art Matters, South Parade, Tenby, tomorrow (Saturday) and continues until August 9, daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

For further information telephone (01834) 843375.