Paul J Best

I find painting the most immediate and expressive of all artistic practices. I am drawn to painting mainly landscapes and seascapes, which I believe is rooted in my particular love and understanding of ‘landscape’ in it’s widest sense. In it’s essence this is the connection between place and people at a specific time to create a ‘genius loci’ or ‘sense of place’. I now have paintings in collections across the UK and in America, Switzerland and Australia. I particularly like to work with texture and often use pastes and sometimes apply gold leaf. I mostly always use reflective paints in the work to capture and reflect the light. I will usually combine the use of palette knife and soften this with brush work. I remain inspired by the enduring impressionist masters: Turner, Klimt, Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, Pissaro and also the more contemporary Landscape artists Mackintosh, Hitchens, Manrique, Heron, Rae, Iden … and I would describe my paintings as broadly impressionistic.