What can we say about Paul Trevilion that hasn’t already been said?

He was born in 1934.  At 18 months sitting in my highchair, his mother noticed he always played with any gravy leftover on his dinner plate with his fingers. At first, his mother repeatedly attempted to dissuade him from doing this, until the day she recognized shapes he’d created resembled a dog, possibly a cat!  He had both of these loveable animals as pets. 

When his mother shared this with his father, he said, ”Let’s give Paul a pencil and some paper”  This they did, and he immediately began to draw his pet dog and cat.

“We have an artist!” she said.

The pencil became his constant companion. Paul would draw all day, then every night slept with it under his pillow. No more need for cuddly teddy bears!

Still life objects did not excite him. He loved drawing the MOVEMENT he saw in animals.

In 1939 aged five,  he went to the local Regal Cinema to see Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. For the first time at the cinema when watching a film, he did not eat his ice cream, because he was too occupied watching drawings of real people, animals, and dwarfs that MOVED.

He spent the next day drawing the seven dwarfs over and over again as best as he could remember from looking at the film. Soon his father was selling his drawings of his favorite, Dopey, in his small grocery store in Tottenham for a penny each. A professional artist was born. 

In 1955 at the age of 21, London artist, Paul Trevillion was commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill in celebration of the great statesman’s 81st birthday. It is a portrait that Sir Winston Churchill liked and signed, and today it remains the only signed Sir Winston Churchill portrait in existence, truly one of a kind.

Paul has drawn entertainers, sports figures, major advertising campaigns, and through the years, his beloved Tottenham Hotspurs. His work will be featured in our coming book, My Eyes Have Seen the Glory. 

Later this year, we’ll also be publishing Paul’s first book, one about him and his life. Stay tuned for news, coming soon!