EVER since David Fisher, of York, created the glinting painting-trophy for last year's Evening Press Business of the Year, his worth as an artist has become increasingly recognised, even fought over...

You should have seen the serious bidding going on at an auction of one of his landscapes at the Queen's Balmoral estate in August.

Everyone, it seemed, wanted David's quickly-created stunning vision in oil of the Isles of Eigg and Rum off the West Coast of Scotland.

Especially keen were Juan Rodriguez Encearte, chairman of the Banco de Santander, which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and bidding rival Johnny Maxwell, chief executive of Standard Life.

Groans from Mr Maxwell's camp as the gavel banged on Senor Encearte's £3,750 bid. The money went to the Prince's Trust to help young people start up new business ventures.

"All those top financial people vying over my work was amazingly flattering," says 37-year-old David, who was invited to Balmoral by another corporate client, Peter Harris, chief executive of Eurest Plc (who was impressed with the work he saw in the Evening Press coverage of the awards.)

But David interrupted working on a Balmoral and Scottish portfolio which he plans to exhibit at his new Reubens Gallery in Leeds next March in order - fittingly - to work on the Evening Press Business Awards "Strength to Strength" theme.

The full glory of the work will be seen at the awards ceremony at the Merchant Adventurer's Hall a week on Thursday (December 6), but he gives a few clues: "It will seemingly vibrate with colour - deep reds and yellows - in a pewter-lined frame and between two panes of glass, looking like the image is suspended without visible signs of support."

If it is only half as effective as David's trophy last year which now hangs proudly in the foyer of last year's winner, the Pocklington Montessori School, then it is a prize indeed.

David says: "Ever since last year's awards which publicised my work, I have been taken extremely seriously."

He was commissioned by dentist Tony Proud to paint calming Mediterranean landscapes of the kind the artist loved when he lived and painted in the whitewashed village of Frigiliana in Spain until three years ago. "They are in the waiting room and designed to have a calming influence," laughs David.

And apart from his work for Eurest Plc, he was commissioned to paint corporate pictures of partners at Millners Solicitors in Leeds by managing director Simon Morgan, who lives in York and was impressed by the Evening Press awards coverage of David's work.

And as for the Reubens Gallery - which not only sells David's originals but also signed prints of his classical nude studies and landscapes - "that's going from strength to strength too," he says.