Man still creating art after 77 years

Nigel Williamson has filled his room with his paintings and sketches

An artist who was given his first oil paint set when he was 14 years old is still sketching at the age of 91.

Nigel Williamson, who lives at Priorslee House care home in Telford, used to work in Shifnal and said he would regularly paint when he came home from a shift.

He has painted scenes from Shifnal in years gone by and from other buildings and landscapes which interested him.

Mr Williamson has given up the paint brush in recent years, but still sketches in notepads which he keeps in his room.

He said he found his art relaxing and liked to paint things which caught his eye.

Among his works are two paintings of Shifnal, based on old monochrome prints.

They show how the town would have looked in the 18th and 19th Centuries, brought to life with colour.

"They were very old photographs and I thought it would be nice to have a big clean picture of it," he said.

Other paintings feature a black-and-white timbered pub in the town and Shifnal's oldest building.

Historical scenes from Shifnal feature a number of times in his collection

This painting is based on an 18th Century print of Shifnal

Another painting shows how nearby Tong Castle would have looked before its demolition, with its Indian-style domes on the roof.

He said he remembered seeing it before it was knocked down and said: "It was eccentric with all its turrets on it.

"It was a main piece of Tong village."

The painting was based on prints from the time.

Tong Castle no longer stands, but fascinated Mr Williams when he was younger

His painting of a street in Stein am Rhein in Switzerland took him a month to complete.

He said it was his most challenging work, because of the detail on the fronts of the buildings.

Not all of his art features street scenes though and his collection, which he proudly displays in his room, includes paintings of a Spitfire, Ullswater in the Lake District and a fishing boat which he saw in Devon.

This painting of Stein am Rhein took Mr Williams a month to complete

His collection also includes aircraft, boats and landscapes

Mr Williamson's collection of 35 notepads in his room includes portraits of people he has seen in the news, from Ray Reardon to Kamala Harris and a collection of pencils sits beside his chair at all times.