Cyril Mount is an oil painter; he has taught me many painting techniques and inspired me to be a painter.

Cyril started painting when he was about two years old. He shared with me one of his treasured child hood memories: “I had a den under the kitchen table, I sat under the long chenille table cloth that touched the floor. I used pear stalks as paint brushes and dipped them in a saucer of water, which I painted pictures on the kitchen floor tiles.”

Cyril has been a professional painter for over seventy years and still paints in his studio today.

He currently has an exhibition of a collection of his paintings in the Brighton museum.

The collection is called Operation Scipio. Operation Scipio was a code name given to the most savage battle of the North African campaign. Scipio Africanus was the name of the Roman General who captured Tunisia.

One of the paintings that caught my eye in Cyril’s current exhibition is named Medjes el Bab, this was a near by town to where the painting is set. In this painting the eighth army artillery are in their last gun position before going to Tunisia.

The men were in a wheat field in Medjes Valley on the 4th May 1943. This painting caught my eye because the landscape is very beautiful, however, the army is still there and there are weapons. I believe this gives the painting emotion and gives out a realisation of one important time in history.

How were the paintings produced? When Cyril was in the army he sketched a lot. Years after the war Cyril produced some paintings from some of the sketches he drew.

Cyril Mounts exhibition is on until February 7. If you do see it, it may give you a real insight into World War II.