Meet artist Paul Talbot Greaves who is inspired by the moors on the doorstep of his West Yorkshire home
‘I paint what interests me,’ says Paul Talbot Greaves, ‘and that is history and the landscape. I live right on the edge of the moors above Halifax - it’s an ancient part of the world, rugged, full of abandoned farm buildings, old wall systems and enclosures that are sometimes two to three hundred years old.’
Well-trodden pathways and stretches of barbed wire indicate the mark of man’s impact on otherwise barren landscapes and those walls and landscapes repeatedly find their way into Paul’s paintings.
He transforms the genteel art of watercolour painting into something bold and daring, applying rich paint with energy to create vibrant and intense compositions that almost take on the appearance of acrylic or oil paints. There is much interplay between light and shadow: the way light falls through fencing wire to create patterns on the grass beyond, or through trees to create long snaking shadows across the landscape. ‘I’m self-taught,’ says Paul, ‘and I’m always learning, always moving. In the last few years my work has become looser and bolder and more infused with colour.’
Perhaps it is his own enthusiasm for learning that makes Paul such a popular teacher. He is much in demand as a teacher of painting and, as well as writing regularly on painting techniques for publications such as Artists and Illustrators Magazine and The Artist, he has written four books on how to paint, including Thirty Minute Landscapes and Thirty Minute Landscapes in Watercolour. He has also produced a series of online video tutorials. He says: ‘I’m always either painting, teaching or writing, but painting is what I’m most drawn to.’
Paul’s work can be seen at Bils & Rye Gallery in Nunnington near Helmsley bilsandrye.com
For more information about Paul go to talbot-greaves.co.uk
