Paul Coney is a well known New Zealand artist born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1957. At the age of 20 he took up pencil portraiture, but soon became drawn to painting, particularly watercolour at that early stage of his career. Since these beginnings, Paul has developed into a highly sought after professional artist. Although he began as a watercolourist, he later transitioned into working primarily with large-scale oil paintings.

His subject matter spans floral works, floral landscapes, figurative pieces, and general landscapes, as well as large wave studies and seascapes. These often incorporate figures and wildlife, and seek to capture the changing character of the sea and its surroundings.

While his work reproduces well in digital format, it is best appreciated in person, where the clarity and detail can be fully observed.

Although many of his paintings are based on specific places or situations, Paul’s strength lies in bringing together many often disparate elements into a single, fully integrated composition that reflects the character and beauty of the subject matter. His large works in oil transform the atmosphere and ambience in any room that they are placed in and create a sense of peace and natural beauty within that space. Paul has exhibited through the International Art Centre in Parnell for over thirty years, as well as many other galleries throughout New Zealand and overseas. He undertakes regular commissioned work, and his paintings are held in private collections worldwide, including in the USA, Canada, Hawaii, the United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.

Paul also offers individual tuition, as well as running a very successful painting class in the town centre of Pukekohe, near where he lives, and has shared painting tutorials and demonstrations online. Visitors passing through the Franklin District of New Zealand are welcome to contact Paul in advance to enquire about visiting the studio he shares with his wife, Marietta.

For all enquiries and commissions, Paul can be contacted at magic.hues@hotmail.com, or via his website at www.paulconey.co.nz. Works can be created and shipped worldwide.