TRADITIONALLY, most artists don't become famous until after their death. Paul Horton is either blessed, or cursed, by virtue of the fact he's enjoying fame while still alive. The upside is his original works sell for thousands of pounds meaning he does not have to indulge in the archetypal 'life of poverty' forced upon so many artists. The downside means long hours or hard work keeping up with the demand from his 'fan club'.

Birmingham-born Paul has a distinctive storybook style and works, at the moment, almost exclusively in pastel. The bold shapes and strong colours echo Britain's other painter famous for deceptively simple works: Mackenzie Thorpe. There's also an acknowledged influence from art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka and even LS Lowry but at the end of the day Paul Horton has created a style and world of his own.

There's bowler-hatted tramp Chester, girlfriend Lucy and Scruff the dog. There's The Jester, The Wizard, Working Man and that most enigmatic of all, Man Of Mystery. They all live in a simple, colourful world, often in terraced streets reminiscent of Paul's childhood days on a Birmingham estate. Paul says none of the characters are based on real people. "To me it's all imagination. I was originally inspired by puppet theatre."The Man of Mystery is seen as various characters: some think he is Phileas Fogg (from Jules Verne's Around The World In Eighty Days) or Jack The Ripper." Paul remains tight-lipped about the true inspiration for this slightly sinsiter character.

As yet Paul has not illustrated any storybooks although his works cry out for a story to tie them together. However he's keen to work on a one-man show with animation in the near future. "The danger for any artist is becoming a production line" said Paul. "Every original need to stand on its own merits." The pressure to meet the demand for original works means Paul remains very busy, getting up at 6.30am to start in his studio. He starts with a thumbnail sketch and usually knows within half an hour of starting whether the idea will work. In the early days when developing his style he would throw many works away but the idea that he might work on a picture for a week and then throw it away seems to fill him with dread. It would certainly send his Washington Green publishers into apoplexy!

All this is a far cry from the impoverished Birmingham council-estate kid who was missing much of school due to his asthma. "It was the days before puffers or inhalers" said Paul "I would just grab any piece of paper and begin drawing." After leaving school he studied at Bourneville School of Art and eventually began a career in the printing industry. Eight years ago he was finally brave enough to make the decision to go professional and his pictures now grace galleries all over the country.

His recent In My Life tour, publicising his first book, meant visits to fifty galleries around the UK in a period of just five months. Paul delighted in meeting people. One of the nicest compliments was from a lady who said: "Thank you for making my house so beautiful." Paul is more modest and simply says, "I'm proud to have created something that never existed before." What more could an artist ask to achieve?

(text and photograph reproduced here with kind permission of Alan Cleaver)