"Paul Lancaster worked as a framer and artist-in-residence of sorts at the Lyzon Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, for 29 years. His own colorful prints were displayed inside frames for sale or were available in the standing bins, to be flipped through by customers. The staff of the gallery used a cryptic but effective sales technique: they talked about ‘Lancaster’ as if it was a brand name, implying the prints had been produced by a trained established artist. Since his retirement in 1995, with time on his hands, Lancaster has become a fully independent artist, painting with confidence and vigor, and the etchings he hand-colored while working at Lyzon are now being discovered by the art world.
Lancaster’s large-scale oil paintings demonstrate the meticulous attention of one who allows himself to become completely lost in the moment for hours on end. Although many of his earlier themes and elements could be said to have remained the same, Lancaster’s works now incorporate florals, figures, and fantasy elements. While the leaves and flowers seem based in real observation, the overall color palette has shifted away from earth tones into a glowing fantasy of blue-green, aquamarine, sunset pink, and teal blue. Walking into the tiny studio where Lancaster now works feels like entering an aquarium that has been drained of its water. It is another world, a sort of sacred space, where he spends as many as ten hours daily, immersed in the intricate ritual of painting his own imaginary world.
Lancaster has been painting since 1959, but he says that drawing and writing came first. He recalls creating an ‘illuminated manuscript’ centering on his own poetry when he was 20. Years later he would create a small book of poetry for children, which he illustrated with watercolors.(1) On his first sojourn away from Tennessee, for army training in the mid 1950s, he was stationed near Aurora, Colorado, where he says the spectacular natural landscape inspired him to draw. Trained as an army medic, he was flattered, but only slightly tempted, by the promise of a promotion if he would pursue a career in medical illustration, but as soon as he had finished his obligatory service, he returned to Tennessee. His earliest memories are of spending time playing in the woods and fields where his maternal grandfather and great-grandfather – both Cherokee Indians – had been farmers. His family moved to Nashville when he was nine years old. "
