A local amateur watercolourist has received the great compliment of having his work featured in the Society of All Artists' Paint magazine.

John Graven, a retired market analyst from Runcorn, has spent the last few years producing beautiful watercolour paintings of Frodsham, Kingsley and Norley's pubs and restaurants, including The Bear's Paw (pictured above), The Bull's Head (pictured below) and The Cholmondeley Arms.

John tells me that, while he has always enjoyed art, gaining his Art A-Level from Helsby Grammar School back in the late '60s, his busy work and family life never left him much time to pursue his hobby.

"But I retired 11 years ago and decided to get back into my first love: painting. I bought myself a set of watercolours, which I'd never used before, and I've been using them ever since!

"My other great love is going out for pub lunches with my wife, Sue, after walking in the Cheshire countryside. So many of the beautiful pubs in this area have been here since before we had our children in the '70s, and that's so nice to find," John says.

"I always take my camera with me on these walks, and quite often I turn photographs into paintings.

"I don't always paint pubs, but it's something that I've developed a style for in the last three or four years. I also do a lot of portraits and figure work and even animals, but I've found something that I really like doing when it comes to painting buildings."

John's pictures have proved to be hugely popular within the community, with painting requests flooding in from local residents and pub landlords alike. The Hare & Hounds in Crowton has his work printed on their menu, while other establishments have his watercolours hanging pride of place by the bar.

One of the great advantages of specialising in pub paintings, John explains, is that he often gets "a free lunch for me and my walker friends!"

With such a large and popular collection of artwork under his belt, it is hardly surprising that John's talent has now been recognised by Paint magazine, whose editor asked him to write a tutorial article alongside his watercolour of The Tiger's Head in Norley.

"Usually the people in this magazine are professionals, and people that you see in tutorials on the television, so it was a real honour," he tells me.

John's fellow SAA members have been invited to follow his tutorial, and their images of The Tiger's Head will be published in the magazine's November issue. Meanwhile, John is turning his attention to his next project, and he thinks he quite fancies trying his hand at Frodsham's Netherton Hall.