Tributes have been paid to a respected artist who was known for his watercolour paintings of lifeboat heroes and their boats, and other marine and landscape scenes.
Mick Bensley, who lived in Sheringham, has died aged 79.
Paula Exton, Mr Bensley’s ex-wife, said he would be “greatly missed” both in north Norfolk and in Rottingdean, near Brighton, where he eventually settled.
She said: “His great love has always been to paint, especially the sea, and to draw.
“He also loved watching football and reading spiritual books, listening to Bob Dylan and a glass of decent whiskey.”
Mr Bensley was born during the Second World War to Jenny and Fred Bensley, who lived in Sheringham.
Ms Exton said: “On leaving school he did a short apprenticeship in carpentry, and consequently many years later made many items for our home.
“He was extremely good at drawing and wished to be an artist and did classes at the Norwich School of Art.
“He moved down to London to share a flat in Battersea with a few other young men also from Sheringham.
“I remember Mick telling me about the large Spitfire mural he painted on the wall in their flat.”
He was married twice - first to Christine in the 70s, and then to Ms Exton for 10 years from 1980.
Mr Bensley went on to a job as a graphic artist, and also worked with the travel agent company Lunn Poly, taking photos of their hotels across Europe.
She said: “He was a good darts player and met me over a game of darts.
“His ambition was to move back to Sheringham and paint full time, which we did.”
Michael Hill said on behalf of Adrian Hill, owner of The Gallery in Lees Yard, Holt: “Mick was a valued exhibitor in our gallery and we go back a very long way.
“He was known and held in great esteem by all three generations of the Hill family since opening our gallery in 1972.
“A regular exhibitor, his paintings were tremendously admired for captivating the seascapes, landscapes and well-known characters of north Norfolk.”
Mr Hill said Mr Bensley’s specialism as a marine artist led him to record the heroism connected with famous lifeboat rescues following years of painstaking and detailed research.
He held four major exhibitions at the gallery, each of which was followed by the release of a book filled with his paintings, which were titled The Rescues of Henry Blogg and the crews of the Cromer Lifeboats, The Sheringham Lifeboats - 1838-2000, The Rescues of the Wells and Blakeney Lifeboats, and The Rescues of the Caister Lifeboats.
The late Michael Baker, managing director of Holt’s Bakers and Larners department store, commissioned Mr Bensley to produce a bird’s-eye-view painting showing Holt town centre before it was destroyed by the Great Fire of Holt on May 1, 1708.
This painting, based on historic records and information, was published as a signed, limited-edition print to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the fire in 2008.
Ms Exton said: “His daughter Aimee was born in 1981.
“We moved to Brighton about nine years later.
“We separated amicably and after a little while he took a flat in Rottingdean, where he went on to become a very well-liked and popular member of the community.
“In 1991 he fathered a son Russell. He continued to have exhibitions, also worked on commissions, taught evening classes and did a lot to support the village.”
To read more tributes to Norfolk's loved and lost, see here.
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