For him it's what art is all about. "I try and push colour to its limit and I pick my light, it's the light that really moves me," he says.

"It can be the incredible silver light over the Firth of Forth, or the golden light of York Minster which you only see at certain times of the day."

Light and colour feature heavily in Browne's latest art exhibition at The Blake Gallery, in York, which includes around 40 new oil paintings and etchings.

Many of his rich landscape paintings are inspired by the Yorkshire Dales, where the artist has lived for the past
33 years.

"There's a certain light you find in places like the Dales, you don't find it on bright, sunny days with puffy white clouds, it happens when you least expect it and you have to rush to capture it," he explains.

Browne has built up a solid reputation over the past four decades for his lush, colourful oil paintings and limited edition etchings.

As well as having more than 25 works exhibited at the Royal Academy, he has enjoyed one-man exhibitions as far afield as Iceland, Germany and the United States.

He's been selling his work since he was 16 years old and remembers being obsessed about painting as a youngster.

"I used to be physically sick if I didn't paint, I've no idea where this came from, I was even put in a psychiatrist's chair once but they couldn't work out what was behind it," he says.

Along with his oil canvases, Browne has also written several books, including an illustrated biography of the poet A E Housman and a book on William Wordsworth accompanied by 54 colour etchings.

In 2002 he produced Sonnets for a Siren – a limited edition book of sonnets and etchings that are now worth £5,000 each.

Although he's been painting for more than 35 years, the 59 year-old artist believes there is much more to come.

"I don't think I've really arrived as an artist yet, which might sound strange, but I feel as though my most important work is still to come."

However, he hopes visitors to his latest exhibition in York will enjoy his interpretation of light and colour. "Hopefully people will see the exuberance of colour and be able to wallow in it, there should be a 'wow' effect. I want them to share a sense
of grace and beauty, because that's the point at the end of the day."

Piers Browne's exhibition at The Blake Gallery, York, runs from July 11 to 26.