A SILSDEN-based artist and craftsman whose acclaimed work has been exhibited at venues across the north has died.

Tony Jarvis, a father of three and grandfather, had been suffering from cancer.

He was born in south London in 1946 and attended St Olave’s Grammar School for Boys.

He displayed an aptitude for art from an early age, and after leaving school studied painting and fine art at Goldsmiths College, London, graduating in 1969 with a BA.

Tony was also a skilled cabinet maker, and following his graduation he was employed by the Tate Gallery in London as a conservation technician. Much of his work there involved restoring and making bespoke frames for artworks in the Tate collection, including paintings by Turner and Constable.

After moving to Yorkshire in 1980 he married his wife Debbie, a nurse whom he had met in London, and they raised three children together.

Whilst working as a bespoke cabinet maker and furniture restorer, Tony's jobs included repairing a badly-damaged piano which had originally belonged to the Bronte family at Haworth Parsonage.

Tony also began to concentrate on his own expressionist paintings and in 2008 became a member of the Leeds Fine Artists group.

Tony had a passion for Japanese art and culture – in his younger days, he had learned and later taught karate.

He attended classes in Japanese calligraphy at Leeds. And Japanese influences were a recurring feature of his large-scale watercolour paintings, in which he explored combinations of colour, symbols and images.

Tony said of his approach to art: "I recall one of my tutors, Albert Irvin, saying that he was searching for 'a personal language'. I feel something similar, by looking for the unexpected – the surprise – result in my work. Once I have started, the paint takes over and leads me in the right direction, and I work with it – a painting that surprises me is one that is working well. If I start thinking, then ideas crowd out the creative process."

His work has been exhibited at venues including Leeds Art Gallery, the Bradford Open, the Keighley Arts Factory Millennium Show, Leeds Art Fair, Gallery Oldham, North Light Gallery in Huddersfield, and Dean Clough, Halifax.

Tony leaves widow Debbie, their three children and five grandchildren.

* A profile of Tony and his work can be found at notjusthockney.info. More examples of his artwork can also be seen at leedsfineartists.co.uk/members_galleries/tony_jarvis_gallery.html