Mark Green meets a painter who is leaving his mark on Cumbria

“I wanted nudity, but I had to go with golf balls.”

Paul Wilmott shrugs his shoulders and beams.

Normally, he gets his way and paints subjects he suggests.

But occasionally, his artistic license is reined in.

He’s not too upset. His latest work of art was a special commission and he mock-grudgingly admits that what he has produced has more relevance than the naked back of a woman in a Mediterranean sea scene.

His new trompe l’oeil painting depicts golf balls flying out from a scene of a lakeland fell.

It’s the latest mural to decorate a new and revamped toilets in Keswick.

Not so much state-of-the-art as collection of art.

There are four designs currently decorating the building, with more to follow.

All are sponsored by local businesses, with more to follow.

Paul’s design was sponsored by Ray Dowding of Hope Park pitch and putt.

It is in a prime position on the loos – right next to the ladies’ entrance.

Paul approves of the idea of a convenience art display and the way the town council has encouraged local businesses to sponsor and support local artists.

“I think the idea of making more of our toilets is a good ine,” he says.

“It could catch on through Cumbria and beyond.”

He looks how you’d expect an artist to look – wild wiry hair, broad braces clutching paint-struck jeans, a faithful tweed jacket and a glint of rebellion in the eye.

Paul has certainly left his mark in the county since arriving here around 20 years ago.

The 57-year-old has been responsible for some sizeable works of art in the north and west of the county over the past 13 years and has become a specialist in murals.

His first were a series of works for the Orgill Primary school in Egremont.

He went on to create the undersea mural in the rainbow room at Newlaithes Infant School, Carlisle.

There was one done on the Parton village hall, jars of sweets were painted onto a bricked-up sweetshop window in King Street, Penrith and The Cheese Delicatessen in Packhorse Court, Keswick, boasts a trompe l’oeil on the side of the shop which gives the appearance of another window in three dimensions.

The biggest public artwork, and most satisfying for Paul so far, is his painting of Gulliver in Whitehaven.

Commissioned by the Whitehaven Heritage Action Group, the initial idea was a design featuring west coast sealife.

Paul heard the story that the town could be the birthplace of Jonathan Swift and suggested he recreate the author’s greatest character: Gulliver.

“When he was small, he lived in a house on a hill overlooking the town and they reckon that is where he got the inspiration for Lilliput from,” explains Paul.

He draws his mural pictures on a numbered and lettered grid system to scale them up, then paints one grid at a time.

The pieces can take upto a month to design and paint, depending on size and complexity.

The golf balls piece took three weeks, including two weeks of painting; Gulliver took a week to plan and three weeks to paint.

The pieces can take slightly longer than he originally expects: “If it is on public display, you want to make sure it looks good.”

Paul moved up to Cumbria from Buckinghamshire with his wife and children in the early nineties.

After studying lithography at the London College of Printing, he worked as a colour retoucher for magazines such as Tatler and Harpers & Queen.

The litho industry was computerised and brush and etchings were replaced with a keyboard and screen.

Paul and his family had often holidayed in Cumbria so he decided to move up and found work with Border Colour Printers.

The marriage broke up and Paul found himself living in a tent in Borrowdale. A modern-day Millican Dalton.

It was rough. He remembers his first day: He woke up to find his washing bowl frozen solid - with all of last night’s dished encased in the ice.

He couldn’t afford anywhere else because e was paying so much in Child Support Agency costs.

Eventually, he couldn’t afford the commute to Carlisle and quit his job to work as a gardener and interior decorator to earn money while he took up paintbrush and canvas (or brick wall) on a serious level.

He now lives with partner Fiona Buchanan in Keswick.

His studio is the crammed and cramped garage at the back of the house where he works under an arc light when necessary.

When he’s not painting murals or in his studio, Paul continues to work as an interior decorator.

Many of his pictures are figures and nudes, though he is now inspired by the tarns of the Lakes and is creating reflective and atmospheric pictures, often captured in the evening.

He’s working on creating enough for an exhibition in a local gallery.

It’s all a fair way from his artistic hero and inspiration Velazquez, though Paul has created a good copy of the Water Seller of Seville.

“I like the Old Masters, but I’m currently working on the tarns, they are my favourite thing about the Lakes and if there are lilies in them, I’m crazy for them.

“I’m getting into the tarns, they’re dark and mysterious.”

to view Paul’s paintings, go to http://paulwilmottartist.co.uk