Paul Garling

Oils, Pencil, Pen & Ink.

Born at Walgett, NSW in 1975. As a boy while living in Narrabri, holidaying on the coast instilled a deep reverence for the sea and boats. At that time the family boat was a small runabout and the magic words from dad of “let’s take the boat for a run” were always eagerly awaited.

Moving to Dubbo in 1985 the family built a holiday cabin at nearby Lake Burrendong. This also saw the purchase of a bigger boat and every weekend was spent on the water.

At this stage Paul was already obsessively making models of his favourite vessels and drawing anything from Battleships to racing powerboats. Upon leaving school Paul moved to Sydney and spent every spare moment on the harbour drawing the working boats, yachts and general harbour activity. Commissions for his works soon filled his time along with accolades from exhibitions.

In 2000 Paul returned to Dubbo to be with family.

Paul’s great forebearer, well known marine artist Frederick Garling, is noted for painting every ship to enter Sydney Harbour between 1825-1870. As a member of the Australian Society of Marine Artists, Paul feels, “it is almost cliché for painters saying they try to capture the mood, light, feeling etc. of a scene. For me as a marine artist, technical accuracy of the subject is paramount. Wind direction, sea conditions, vessel construction etc. all play a part when considering my work. A specific ship requires the study of it’s plans before starting the picture. A sound knowledge of the subject and strong imagination combine in my work and this then creates the mood or
feeling in the picture. My passion for all things nautical goes beyond the visual or emotive response. It’s one of those unexplainable things. Maybe it’s in the genes”.