ART BREAK
PAUL O’KANE
Belfast-born Paul O’Kane has spent several decades working as a self-employed architect while developing his love of painting en plein air in his spare time. Despite this wealth of experience, however, he is relatively new to art tutoring. Now based in County Down, Northern Ireland, teaching has nevertheless taken him across Europe to beautiful locations such as rural Italy and Portugal’s Algarve.
Paul’s focus is towards the representational – both personally and as a tutor. He likes to be outdoors, shrouded by nature as he hones his skills. He is also dedicated to getting the technical aspects of painting right and it is this discipline he wants to instill in his students. “I give a demo explaining my thoughts and leave with a finished painting,” he says, summing up his teaching day. “If it’s holiday or workshop venue then I spend the rest of the day helping students to overcome their own technical difficulties.”
As a self-taught artist, Paul is refreshingly honest about the reality of developing painting skills. “Painting is difficult,” he says. “Beginners struggle with the basics. I see my role as helping them overcome those difficulties. I aim to fast forward students to overcome
