For Paul Wadsworth, painting is just as much concerned with the physical and sensuous properties of the paint itself as it is with expressing a personal response to things felt and seen. Inspired by the coast and landscape of Cornwall and the landscape of the middle east, his work is essentially about capturing moments, feelings and emotions rather than meticulously depicting a particular view of place. And, in order to respond and create in this way, he prefers to complete as much of the painting as possible on site, where he is surrounded by the elements that consistently motivate and energize his work 

Painting out in the landscape is a great inspiration; the moods of the sea, the big skies, deserts changing colour through the day, the pure energy it gives you that you can transfer onto the canvas. To me it’s not about trying to illustrate what you see but more to do with capturing the essence of the day through the use of oil paint. 

The tools I use are brushes, pallet knives, large paint scrapers and quite often my hands. Paint is applied and quite often scraped off then reapplied until I can feel my way into the painting. This process can sometimes take awhile before something starts to happen on the canvas. I try not to start a painting with too many preconceptions thus allowing for the work to change and develop with as much freedom as possible. 

All the paintings that I work on location are taken back to the studio where I have time to live with them and possibly make some changes over a period of weeks. 

The pure physical act of painting is what allows me to put myself into the work; sometimes throwing the paint, flicking paint , scraping the paint or working the surface with my hands are all ways that I can find a way into the painting and start to find what I’m looking for.