Budding artists are being invited to apply for a bursary being offered by an island charity.

The John Nicholson Foundation donates the £750 award to a chosen recipient every year, along with offering help and support for individual art projects and educational initiatives.

It is now appealing to local painters, sculptors, ceramicists and crafters to get in touch by the end of July to find out how the foundation could help them.

The organisation is named after John Hobson Nicholson who was a self-taught artist he went on to establish himself over the next 50 years as one of the most successful Manx painters.

He was born in 1911, the son of Frank Nicholson a house painter and decorator. He was the grandson of the well-known Manx artist John Millar Nicholson.

John was educated at Douglas High School and went into the family business on leaving school. He was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, an exclusive organisation of only 58 elected members in the British Isles.

He was also a member of the Pastel Society of Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of British Interior Design. He was a leading member of the IoM Art Society and was its president up until his death in 1988.

He produced a wide variety of work from landscapes and coastal scenes to maritime subjects often in oils, in watercolours and in pastel.

To be eligible for the award you must have lived in the island for at least three years within the past five years.

Applications must include up to six photos of samples of your work.

Judges will consider technical merit, content and composition, imagination and style. Preference may be given to those for whom the award will enable them to expand potential that otherwise might be constrained financially.

Fore more information or to apply, email [email protected] by July 31.