Welcome
Original Fine Art Acrylic, Oil, and Watercolor Paintings by Paul Maxwell
Working to bring dreams to life in fine art!
Border Series
About Paul
Paul's Background
While having little formal training beyond a few mail-in courses in his early teens Paul has been painting all of his life. He began doing portraits with water color and then oils in his late teens and early twenties but decided making a living as a "starving artist" wasn't a good life strategy. He turned to other creative passions in engineering and sciences earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in those fields from the University of Texas at El Paso and Stanford University.
In 2012 Paul decided to re-explore the world of art full time and began fine art painting from his Southern New Mexico studio in Santa Teresa focusing on landscapes and local subjects using acrylic paints--a new medium for him. In 2013 Paul traveled to Europe for an extended period visiting most of Western Europe, including nine weeks in Florence where he studied art at the Academe de Arte, working with a number of renowned artists and producing a number of acrylic paintings based on his travels as well as the wonderful environment of Florence. He returned to Florence in September of 2014 for additional development of his skills. He has continued to explore various media and topics, returning to oil painting and then water colors, adding themes and ideas from the desert southwest to his repertoire of painting. More recently he has taken workshops on watercolor and impressionist art from well known local artist, Ron Fritsch.
Over the past several years he has held a number of art shows and has shown his work in the Paso del Norte region (Crossland Gallery, Art Masters, Art and Framing Gallery, and the International Museum of Art, El Paso; Ardovino's Desert Crossing, Sunland Park, Dona Ana Arts Council, NM; and Alto Artists Tour, Alto, NM) selling numerous paintings and prints. Paul is a member of the Oil Painters of American national art association, the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, the Agave Artists Gallery of Mesilla, NM, the Artists of Picacho Hills and the El Paso Art Association. Paul resides in Picacho Hills, NM and is looks forward to working and collaborating with the wonderful art community of this region.
My Medium
As an artist I use a number of different paint mediums, such as oil, acrylics, and water colors to create fine art. Each has its distinct advantages and I find it challenging to use those in my creations. Each idea manifests in its own individual style. I find acrylic paintings and watercolor paintings often work best for quick work, oil painting is great for more subtle effects . As a good friend and artist once told me--"Why sleep when you can paint"--Amen!
My Inspiration
My inspiration for fine art comes from the world around me. While I enjoy the raw beauty of the desert southwest or exotic views from Asia or Europe I take delight as well from seeing people or animals within those environments. I love translating what I see into watercolor, acrylic or oil paintings.