Paul Minter

My degree from the Central School of Art was in Theater Design and I had a twenty year career as a Costume designer in film and TV.
I then trained as a secondary school art teacher, the last decade as Head of Art in an Oxfordshire Prep school.
Two decades ago I took up oil painting, having never been taught to paint.
I sought out tutors and mentors who I felt could help me with the technical aspects of painting in oils. But also help me to find a voice.

My work is figurative, but it is not photo- realism. I suppose that techniques in scene painting keep cropping up in my work.
I am massively inspired by the applied arts and I make work that is decorative and atmospheric.

During the Covid lockdown, when I couldn’t spend weekends visiting country houses, I started painting historic interiors. The paintings are fairly big, 100x 100cms is my preferred format, because I like to use biggish brushes.
I do not believe that adding more detail will make a painting look finished. I much prefer hinting at detail that is not actually there.
From a distance my work looks photographic but as you look closer it is obvious that all the detail is merely implied.

Because my work is decorative it lends itself very easily to greetings cards. I work with a printer/distributor to circulate my cards to a wider audience. I am humbled by the number of people who buy cards of my paintings.