Power, Passion and Whimsy

Paul Zawadzki

‘Essence of Dreams’

Paul is based in the quaint and appealing village of Bungay in Suffolk UK. As part of the beautiful Suffolk Waveney Valley, the location gives Paul access to immense inspiration, beautifully conveyed in his unique style of painting. From the local rural scenery at Outney Common, Bath Hills, the uncompromising coastline stretching from Yarmouth down to Aldeburgh and the cliffs of the Suffolk Coast, it’s clear from his work that Paul loves this land deeply.

This beautiful painting is called ‘Silent Flight’ because owls’ wing beats are noiseless so they do not alert their prey. I love the colours, the mystery of the forest and the beckoning light of the countryside.

Inspired by river, marshes and woodland scenery, I find Paul’s ability to express the many moods of forest, countryside and water quite extraordinary. He manages to achieve a lovely mix of mystery and playfulness, a combination that can only come from an artist deeply connected to his subject.

‘The Blue Lake’

Also known as ‘Artbear’, Paul paints mainly in oils on canvas or board but is also currently investigating the use of natural materials incorporating sand, earth and detritus into his work to capture the texture and spirit of the landscape.

Just when you think you’ve got his art neatly categorised you discover a surprising variety in Paul’s range of artistic expertise and expression.

‘Mirror Monoprint’

‘Dance-Female’

Like his friendly personality, Paul’s artworks also benefit from a love of spontaneity. He freely admits to enthusiastically embracing the ‘happy accident’, making full use of washing out, dripping, blotting and splashing paint while retaining an element of traditional landscape painting, visible here in ‘Harmonic Void’.

‘Avian Bush’—I love the clever contrasts in the use of texture  and colour in this image. You’ll notice also, Paul’s occasional, effective use of gold leaf as an accent.

‘Silver Shoal’

‘ASU2’—One moment he’s rendering trees as the shapes we expect and the next, he’s playing with their forced roles as nature manipulated for our use.

Then in the image below, we might be looking at a coral forest in the sea yet the hedge in front tells us otherwise.

‘Perforated Meadow No.2’

You’ll notice as well that Paul’s work doesn’t stick to the conventional colours of the landscape. He’s blessed with the ability of synesthesia, seeing the colours in sound and music. It’s something I’ve experienced myself, though rarely, when meditating or listening to some kinds of music. Master of Voice, Stewart Pearce, describes it as experiencing the sound of colour and light simultaneously. For Paul, synesthesia is an added bonus in his other career as an electronic music composer (under the name of ‘Sineflesh’). He feels these two sides of his practice support and influence each other.

As many of you will know, I’m besotted with trees, so it’s no surprise I love this textured rendering of Paul’s ‘Heart of the Forest’. You can practially feel it pumping!

Likewise, ‘The Climbing Tree’ below is a winner, with it’s striking use of colour, and scale, thanks to the wee squrriel.

Paul tells me he is currently studying for an MA in Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts, which he feels is already giving more focus and context to his work. Always enthusiastic and willing to embrace the next stage of his creative journey, Paul is looking forward to exciting new developments in both his painting and music. So am I! Watch this space. . .

There’s a wealth of material to view and music to hear on Paul’s WEBSITE.

I’ll leave you with this image of a forest, palpably tranquil and still.

‘Blue Pines’ by Paul Zawadzki