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Paul's art is vintage stuff |
Paul Cousins could be the first artist to paint in watercolour and wine.
The St Helens-based painter hit on this unusual new medium when he started making sketches on plane journeys.
And you can see some of the results in a new exhibition of his work opening at The World of Glass in St Helens this month.
"I'd always carried watercolours and a bottle of water but when the airlines stopped you taking liquids with you, I began buying a glass of white wine on board to dip my brush in."
"I could have bought water but wine was more fun - I only needed a few drops and could drink the rest."
For the finished paintings Paul works in acrylic emulsion and aims to explore the space between land and sky.
"I soon realised that a plane seat gave me a unique perspective for focusing on the environmental issues I like to explore as a painter."
"I often fly from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and on one flight noticed what looked like fluffy white clouds in an otherwise cloudless sky. "
"When I realised they led to Fiddler's Ferry Power Station at Warrington, I thought: Yes, we're creating all that."
Paul then started taking more notice of power stations and other sources of industrial pollution and began incorporating the effects into his paintings.
"The title of my exhibition - Painting Thin Air - reminds us that we could end up running out of air if we don't take care over what we do to the environment."
Paul's recent achievements include winning the People's Prize at last year's Liverpool Open at the city's Conservation Centre and painting the 'Cloudorama-Superlambanana' seen at the Lady Lever Art Gallery last year and now housed in Birkenhead Market.
Painting Thin Air will run at The World of Glass from July 18 until September 13.
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