Artist Statement

I typically get my painting ideas with something that catches my attention. A sketch made on the spot, a photograph, or sometimes images that surface from memory or a dream — something that triggers a response that needs to be explored.

I work intuitively and impulsively, which means the painting is rarely right the first time. I’m not sure why but I often perceive light and dark in reverse to reality, and so the layering in my work is how I find my way back to a semblance of order — building up, correcting, resolving, until the painting reaches a balance that feels true.

I work on canvas prepared with a Venetian plaster ground, starting in acrylic before moving into oils. The layers accumulate slowly. Each one is a decision.

Not every painting gets there. But when the balance arrives, it produces a feeling that I recognise from standing in front of great paintings — a quality that stops you. That’s the standard I’m working toward.

Bio

Paul Eccles paints what he can’t ignore. A landscape, a figure from memory, a place that triggers something — seen once and impossible to let go.

Born in England in 1965, he spent his early childhood in Canada before growing up in Ireland. He moved to Canada permanently at eighteen and has been painting for over 35 years.

He has recently been accepted into Art Rental & Sales operated by the Vancouver Art Gallery, and is also a part of Ampersand Art Rental and Sales with the Langley Arts Council. Notable shows were an Honourable Mention in ARTS 2020 with the Arts Council of Surrey and second place at Artspacific in 2023. He accepts commissions for private collections and has recently begun teaching plein air painting.

He lives and works on Matsqui Prairie in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia