THE the final painting of the North-East's celebrated artist Tom McGuinness, with his trademark straw hat placed on the easel and paintbox left open, was started the day before he died.

Though only still an underpainting, the picture of ghostly figures hunched against the cold and looming pitheads encapsulated the style of a large body of work that captured a bygone era on the region's coalfields.

The painting was revealed by his son, Shaun, as tributes continued to flow in, including from contemporary artist Norman Cornish, who shared his passion for the subject.

The painting is one of several that were in various stages of completion and could one day go on display to demonstrate Mr McGuinness' technique.

Shaun arrived at his father's home in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, to find the paintbox open and canvas on an easel.

He said: "It looked as though he just put down his brushes, was pottering about and was about to return."

He said a major retrospective had already been planned in the McGuinness Gallery, in Bishop Auckland Town Hall, in honour of his father's 80th birthday, but the unfinished works could be displayed later.

He said: "He had several canvasses on the go. Some are just the underpainting and others close to being finished and not yet signed.

"They could be exhibited to show the way he worked. There are a lot of people who would be interested to see how he tackled his painting and what stages he would go through."

Tom McGuinness was born in 1926 in Witton Park, County Durham. He joined the coal industry as a Bevin Boy and was to remain in mining for 39 years.

He had always been interested in drawing at school, but had had no formal training until his Colliery Training Officer advised him to attend evening classes at Darlington Art College.

He later became a member of the Spennymoor Settlement, a pioneering community arts group. It was there he first met Norman Cornish.

Mr Cornish, 86, said last night: "He will be sadly missed. He had a talent for drawing and painting and developed his own way of looking at things. We each had our own different styles.

"I wish he had been able to stay alive, not just to see the retrospective exhibition planned, but that he had kept on painting for many more years."

The funeral will be held at St Mary's Church, in Bishop Auckland, on a date to be arranged.