Born in London, Paul studied at the Slade School of Fine Art where he was awarded a French Government scholarship to travel and work in France. He spent the 1970s in art education with a year in Rome that decided his concentration on watercolour as his medium of choice. He exhibits widely and is a prolific prize-winner, notably the House & Garden Award and the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize at the Royal Academy, the purchase prize at the Discerning Eye and the Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize at the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. He has served as Vice President of the Royal Watercolour Society and continues to serve as its Honorary Curator.