A Short Profile of the Artist

A word portrait of the artist's life, accomplishments, and interests

"Paul Maitland is a British painter, and sculptor, one of the most important and talented artists, to emerge, in recent years, he makes his paintings by applying oil paint in a resolutely Expressionist technique, using wide and bold strokes of the brush, and with palette knives and trowels attacking the surface of the canvas, with energy and bravado, until the image latent in the imagination emerges."

My love of the Countryside

When I was around ten years old my family moved to Skelmersdale, and I was allowed to explore freely the surrounding countryside; Back then, before the new town was completed, there was a lot of open countryside, and arable farms, some with livestock; occasionally on one of my many walking expeditions, with my friend Michael Kerrigan, we would come unexpectedly on a pig sty with a large pig in residence, or a herd of cattle, or a wild bull.

My Interests

Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Picasso, Matisse, Joan Miro, Alan Davie, J. M. W. Turner, German Expressionist Painting, Michel Angelo, Abstract Expressionism, M. C. Escher, Chinese Painting, Japanese Painting, African Art, Egyptian Art, Art Today, Modernism in Art, Gothic Art, Neolithic Art, The Book of Kells, I Ching, William Blake, William Shakespeare, Robert Graves, Homer, Leonard Cohen, Friedrich Nietzsche, Marcus Aurelius, Buddhism, Mythology, The Four Gospels, Dante, Zen Mind Zen Brush, Jesus Christ, Ancient Verse, Modern Poets, Ovid, Lao Tzu.

Where I have lived

Imagination, Pictures, Paintings, Art Galleries, Museums, Books, Bed-sits, Artists studios, Pyramids, Golgotha, Libraries, Flats, New Towns, Old Cities, Mind, Body, Heaven, Hell, Past, Present, Future, Poetry, Painters, Poets, Scientists, Sea, Sky, World, Earth, Liverpool, Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, London, Skelmersdale.

Where I live

With paintings and brushes, with studio space, with bed-sitting room, with solitude and silence, with a Buddha statue, with a Greek vase, with a Japanese vase, with framed pictures of paintings by Modigliani, with book cases, with leather chairs, with a photograph of Billy Holiday, in Skelmersdale, in West Lancashire, in England, in the UK, in Europe.

The Schools I have attended

School of Poetic Verse, School of Scoundrels and Reprobates, School of Lost Souls, School of Devils and Gods, School of Law Breakers, School of Thieves, School of Dancers, School of Philosophers, School of Comedy and Joke Tellers, School of Dreamers, School of Peace Makers, School of Truth Tellers, School of Song, School of Rich Men, School of Poor Men, School of Strife, School of Art.

Biography

I was born in Liverpool on 25th August 1957. The first school I attended (for two months!) was St. Aloysius Catholic Primary School, twig lane, Roby; moving with my parents at the age of five to Oban road in Anfield, a stone’s throw away from Liverpool FC Football Club. There I attended All Saints Catholic Primary School during the week and on Sunday went to Mass at the local RC Church.

My Parents

My parents showed their religious tolerance and open-mindedness to unfamiliar ideas by also sending me to a local Protestant Chapel to attend Sunday school – the contents of which I have no recollection of. In 1968 our family joined the exodus out of Liverpool by many Liverpool families to the New Town of Skelmersdale in West Lancashire. From 1973-1976 I study Art and Design at Wigan and Leigh College, and from 1976-1979 Art at the University of Sunderland.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

In 1982 I lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and was a member of the “Attic Group” of artists, holding a number of group exhibitions in the area. In 1987 I returned to Liverpool, and participated in group shows, including in 1987 with the “Bridewell Artists” at the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; and in 1989 was chosen to exhibit at the “Merseyside Artists Four” exhibition at the Bluecoat Chambers Arts Centre; and also in the same year the “Merseyside Contemporary Artists”, at Senate House, Liverpool University.

Skelmersdale

In 1990 I moved back to Skelmersdale where I now have a painting studio. In 1999 I held my first one-man show at the Hanover Galleries in Liverpool. I have continued to be a prolific artist, producing a large number of drawings and paintings each year, and also, continuing to develop my artwork in new and exciting ways. I am currently a member of the West Lancashire Artists Network.

Artwork I am doing Now

More recently, I have made a lot of my images online, using various tools I downloaded to my computer. I am also working on a large portrait study of my parents, using photographs I took of them; and I have been working on a large semi-abstract painting. So, I am keeping myself busy... On this page are examples of the digital landscape images I have been making; using open source photographs, and manipulating them on my computer, to experiment and achieve surprisingly rich results.

The joy of making images will stay with me for life

The joy of making images will stay with me for life: I have made Art for as long as I can remember, when I was three or four years of age, I remember sitting on the floor making drawings using coloured crayons, and pencils. Nothing too sophisticated, only marks on a white sheet of paper; I would draw air battles, or tank battles, and slowly fill up the drawing with explosions until there was only an abstract mess on the paper. It was the experience of using my imagination to explore events and have improbable adventures, I was hooked.

Selected Exhibitions

2013 - Present: Online Exhibitions, various galleries / Participating artist @ Saatchi Online Gallery UK

2011 Online Exhibition launched at the Maitland Gallery

2010 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2009 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2008 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2007 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2006 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2005 Open studio, Colinton, Skelmersdale

2003 Chapel Gallery, St. Helens Rd; Ormskirk, Lancashire

1999 Hanover Galleries, Hanover Street, Liverpool

1997 Drumcroon Arts Centre, Wigan

Open Art Exhibition, “The Forum”, St. Helens College

1989 Merseyside Contemporary Artists, Senate House, Liverpool University

Merseyside Artists 4; Bluecoat Chambers Arts Centre, Liverpool

1988 Arts Centre, Skelmersdale

Bridewell Artists Studios, Liverpool

1987 Bridewell Artists Studios, Liverpool

Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool

1984 Arts Centre, Skelmersdale

1983 Highgate Arts Centre, London

Kew Studios, London

Centaur Gallery, London

1982 Central Library, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Gulbenkien Theatre Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Image-Poem

SAATCHI GALLERY, Artist of the Year 2030;

Winner of TATE BRITAIN, Future Painting Prize 2031;

TATE MODERN, Artist of the Year 2031;

WALKER ART GALLERY, Modern Painting Prize 2032;

The prices paid for Maitland’s paintings at Sotheby’s and Christie’s,

and at other distinguished Auction Houses, in 2033, exceeds those paid for any previous artist’s paintings;

British Book, awards Poetry Prize in 2028 for his Collected Poems,

European Association of Writers,

Award him the Silver Pen in 2019 for his early writings on the joys of an artist’s life;

and the Platinum Medal in 2030

For his Prose Writings on Artist’s and Art Theory

CBE for Services rendered to the Fine Arts, awarded, 2051.

Above is a, Predictive Poem: “Awards and Distinctions”: by the artist, Paul Maitland.