ACTOR and artist Steve Huison has spent the past year living in Robin Hood's Bay, or "Bay" as the locals are wont to call the East Coast resort.

"I moved here knowing absolutely nobody, and I've been fascinated at how easy it is to create new networks of friends in such a short space of time. Especially when you offer to draw them," says Steve.

His resulting artwork will be on show at Pyramid Gallery, in Stonegate, York, from July 22's 7pm private view to the end of August, open 10am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and 12 noon to 4.30 on Sundays.

Steve began his career in art at Leeds School of Art in the 1970s, where he started a foundation year. However, disillusioned with the way the course was structured, he did not complete the studies, instead pursuing a different passion that led him to become an actor on stage, television and film.

Subsequently, he became best known for his soap opera role as Eddie Windass in Coronation Street between 2008 and 2011 and for playing Lomper, the insecure security guard in The Full Monty, later taking on the dame's role of Nanny Clutterbuck in Harrogate Theatre's 2006-2007 pantomime, The Sleeping Beauty.

York Press:

Portrait of blues musician Steve Phillips, by Steve Huison

While working on Coronation Street, Steve first made his mark as a portrait painter with an exhibition of drawings of cast members at Contemporary Six Gallery in Manchester. The works were auctioned to raise funds for a Shoestring Theatre Company drama project, working in a psychiatric setting to help people bridge the gap between hospitalisation and living back in the community.

Steve’s passion for portraiture continues to feed off his experience as an actor. "It’s about the narrative," he says. "When acting we're telling a story; it's the same with portrait painting or drawing."

For the new exhibition, he has put together a collection entitled A Year in Bay: the culmination of the occasional landscape paintings and portrait studies of a handful of locals he has met.

Among the figures is Yorkshire blues guitarist Steve Phillips, portrayed in an ink drawing playing his regular Tuesday night spot at the Grosvenor Hotel on a guitar he has made himself. Phillips was once part of The Notting Hillbillies with Dire Straits' frontman Mark Knopfler and Brendan Croker and is now a familiar figure in Robin Hood’s Bay, making him a natural subject for Huison, who happens to be a performing guitarist too.

The Grosvenor Hotel's landlord, David Collinson, is depicted in oils, showing off his red fishing smock. Fishing is part of life in "Bay" and Steve had the pleasure of learning under the tutelage of Collinson how and where to set a lobster pot.

York Press:

Portrait of Robin Hood's Bay pub landlord and fisherman David Collinson, by Steve Huison

"And so the portraits go on with other Robin Hood's Bay characters and their individual stories and new friendships to the artist, who has found life in Bay to be the perfect stimulus to his recently adopted career," says gallery owner Terry Brett, who has a keen interest in portraiture.

"I draw portraits and figures as a hobby and was especially interested in what Steve is doing here as soon as I was introduced to his work. The works are not just images of faces.

"Each one has a story, both that of the subject’s life and also of the manner in which the artist came to know the individual. Listening to Steve talk about each portrait is itself entertaining and a heartfelt and touching experience. I feel humbled by the stories being told."

All the portraits may be viewed at the Pyramid gallery website, pyramidgallery.com