About - butvilafineart

About Paul

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The paintings of Paul Butvila, an innovative artist who beautifully captures the dichotomy between fantasy and realism, have graced the covers of two novels as well as the walls of collectors globally.

Paul’s creative use of various techniques delivers a stunning composition of textures, colors, and reflections. He combines brush strokes, airbrush, and palette knife, with oil and acrylic paints, to produce pristine subject matter with alluring character.

Butvila was born in London, England, and immigrated to British Columbia with his family when he was three. From an early age, he loved to sketch, re-creating the cover of TV Guide and various magazines.

His parents gave him an oil painting set when he was fifteen and he began to experiment with adding color to his sketches. Paul’s painting career was paused a year later when his family moved to New Zealand. For the next few years, he spent most of his time working and surfing, until returning to Canada.

At age twenty, Paul returned to painting, inspired by the works of the famous fantasy artist, Boris Vallejo. Boris, a Peruvian- born artist, has worked for virtually every major publishing house and has illustrated for album covers and motion picture studios. Paul began replicating Boris’s beautiful maidens and fearsome monsters with the desire to paint like him. Wanting to accelerate his artistic growth, Paul contacted Boris directly. Boris kindly invited Paul to visit his studio in Yonkers, New York.

Several days later, Paul was learning at the hands of a master, his hero of fantasy art. Boris spent a week mentoring Paul one-on-one on the techniques of fantasy art with striking figurative subjects. Over the next few years, Butvila’s art graced the cover of two novels- Saturnalia and Schimaren Roman.

By the age of twenty-five, Butvila’s style evolved into a combination of fantasy and realism: he loves the technical challenges it presents. His Gotta Wear Shades collection is an enticing combination of elegant women with beautiful cars and other subjects reflected in their sunglasses. As Paul describes it, “ The hallmarks of this collection are larger-than-life women with fun reflections and witty titles that invite you to become part of the fantasy and make you smile.”

Visitors to fine art galleries in London, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Laguna Beach, and Maui have had the opportunity to view this collection.

Paul Continues to live in British Columbia near his son, Simon, as well as his sisters, Janet and Kim.