Painter, draughtsman and teacher who lived in the house in Abertillery, Monmouthshire, where he was born and brought up. He produced work rich in imagery, poetry and colour which drew on his environment, the industrial valley towns and mountains. Prolific and obsessive, he was a solitary artist, with affiliations to no group. Cecil joined Newport College of Art in 1959, teachers including John Wright and Thomas Rathmell; in 1963 he gained the highest award that year in the national diploma in design. Won the David Murray Landscape Award from the RA. Cecil was offered a place at Royal College of Art, but after a few weeks was unsatisfied and took up manual work in opencast mines and on building sites. The BBC made a television documentary on Cecil’s work called The Gentle Rebel.