My friend Bernard Evans, who has died aged 85, was one of Cornwall's foremost figurative painters. An accomplished musician as well as artist, he was a founder of the Newlyn Reelers and a member of the Golowan Band, based in Penzance. He loved his accordion so much that no one was ever allowed to carry it for him.

The son of Alice and Frederick, a cleaner on the railways, Bernard studied at Liverpool College of Art and Camberwell School of Art, south London, where he was tutored by Martin Bloch. As with Bloch, good drawing and composition were important features of Bernard's work.

He also loved to teach and met his wife, Audrey, a fellow artist, while giving her guitar lessons at the Institute of Education, London. Bernard tau...