In 2011 Paul Tunkis revived his interest in painting and drawing after 27 years of living in Montana. Combining his artistic skills with his years of experience as a hunting and fishing guide in Montana and the West, Paul paints Montana's landscape and wildlife in his chosen media of transparent watercolor and graphite pencil on Arches cotton hot press paper.
Paul grew up on a ranch in Northern California. After studying art and architecture at the University of Oregon, Paul went on to study drawing and painting at Leighton Studios in San Francisco, California with Thomas Leighton & Marjorie Lester Leighton. Thomas Leighton was an expatriate Englishmen trained at England's Royal Academy of Arts. He taught for more than 25 years in art schools and colleges in Canada and the U.S. Marjorie Lester Leighton was an illustrator for National Geographic and other international publications.
Paul's lifelong experience as a naturalist, hunter and angler has taught him that one is not only an observer but a participant in nature. Paul strives to captures the momentary presence of wildlife - always in motion, coming and going in an instant. He desires to portray the memory of an experience, suggesting just enough of what was seen to allow the viewer to fill in the details from their own memories and dreams.
In 2013, Paul was recognized by the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, MT as their “ Montana Emerging Artist of the Year”. In 2014 he won the “Creative Catalyst” award at “Watermedia 2014”, the Montana Watercolor Society's yearly National Exhibition. In 2015 he was awarded Artist-in-Residence for the Upper Missouri Breaks Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Monument. In 2016 one of his 30 watercolors from his Missouri Breaks artist in residence was picked to represent the National BLM Conservation Lands Program on their poster. In 2017 Paul became a Signature Member of the Montana Watercolor Society. In 2018 Paul's watercolor “Long Shadows” was accepted, along with 39 other Montana artists to the “Montana Triennial” Museum Exhibition at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, MT.
Paul hopes sharing his work and vision with fellow Montanans will bring them joy and a sense of wonder for this beautiful place we call home; as well as bringing awareness of the necessity to continue to preserve Montana's diverse wildlife and heritage landscape.
