Duncan Palmar RSMA

Born in Hampshire in 1964, Duncan Palmar had a love of painting and drawing from a young age, stating ‘at school I would try and find any excuse to go to the art room’. He first sold his work as a means to pay for driving lessons, when he would paint pictures of people’s homes before approaching them to buy his work.

Although they recognised his talent, Palmar’s parents discouraged him from pursuing a career as an artist, believing it to be impossible to make a living from. Despite this, Palmar took a leap of faith and followed his dream of becoming a professional painter at just nineteen. His efforts quickly paid off, as he held his first solo exhibition within the year.

Palmar has since gone on to experience phenomenal success, with several sell-out exhibitions to his name and an ever increasing following of enthusiasts and collectors.

Inspired by the Newlyn School of Artists, Palmar’s distinctive representational paintings capture texture, light and atmosphere with seeming effortlessness. He frequently takes English landscapes and coasts as his subjects, and is particularly inspired by the sea with its ‘diverse movements, rhythms and space’.

Working today from his home in Surrey, Palmar says ‘I feel very privileged to paint every day, and am determined to continue for as long as I can’.