AN international award-winning painter is back exhibiting at Tennants in Leyburn after a two-year gap.

Martin ‘Lefty’ Kinnear, 50, shot to international acclaim in 2018 when he was awarded the Medaille d’Argent by the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts at his first entry to the Paris Salon - the salon of Picasso and Monet.

He was invited to exhibit ther again in 2019 and now his work is on display at Tennants until October 4.

The exhibition, ‘Lefty’s North’, showcases oil preparatory works for Regeneration, his major solo exhibition at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle this November as well as smaller oils developed for the Paris Salon.

Kinnear has been hailed as the natural successor to Norman Cornish, the most famous of the Northern Pitman painters, and many of the oil paintings in the show are based on unfinished sketches by Cornish. These paintings were created out of Kinnear’s Residency at The Bowes Museum’s landmark Cornish retrospective earlier in the year.

Kinnear, who lives in Wensley, North Yorkshire, acquired the affectionate nickname, ‘Lefty’ following a catastrophic stroke which paralysed his left side when he was just 35.

It was a stroke that changed his life and set him on the path to becoming one of Britain’s most accomplished contemporary painters.

It was also the spark that led him to set up the now world renowned Norfolk Painting School.

He said: “I am really excited to be back at Tennants again.

"The last show was a big success and I have high hopes that this one will be too.

"Winning the Medaille d’Argent at the Paris Salon turned me into a 20-year overnight success.

“Following my Residency at the landmark Norman Cornish exhibition at the Bowes Museum, I took the opportunity to work up his small ‘flo-master’ sketches into full-blown oil paintings, many of which will be included in this show.”