The paintings of Paul Butvila – an innovative
artist who beautifully captures the dichotomy
between fantasy and realism – have graced the
covers of two novels, as well as the walls of
collectors globally. His creative use of various
techniques delivers a stunning composition of
textures, colors, and reflections. He combines
brush strokes, air brush, and palette knife, with
oil and acrylic paints, to produce pristine subject
matter with alluring character.
Butvila was born in London, England and
immigrated to British Columbia with his family
when he was three. From an early age, he loved
to sketch, re-creating the cover of TV Guide and
various magazines. His parents gave him an oil painting set when he was fifteen and he
began to experiment with adding color to his sketches. Paul’s painting career was paused
a year later when his family moved to New Zealand. For the next few years, he spent
most of his time working and surfing, until returning to Canada.
At age twenty, Paul returned to painting, inspired by the works of the famous fantasy
artist Boris Vallejo. Boris, a Peruvian-born artist, has worked for virtually every major
publishing house, and has illustrated for album covers and motion picture studios. Paul
began replicating Boris’ beautiful maidens and fearsome monsters with the desire to paint
like him. Wanting to accelerate his artistic growth, Paul contacted Boris directly. Boris
kindly invited Paul to visit his studio in Yonkers, New York. Several days later, Paul
was learning at the hands of a master, his hero of fantasy art. Boris spent a week
mentoring Paul one-on-one on the techniques of fantasy art with striking figurative
subjects. Over the next few years, Butvila’s art graced the cover of two novels –
Saturnalia and Schimären Roman.

By the age of twenty-five, Butvila’s style evolved
into a combination of fantasy and realism; he loves
the technical challenges it presents. His Gotta Wear
Shades collection is an enticing combination of
elegant women with beautiful cars and other
subjects reflected in their sunglasses. As Paul
describes it, “The hallmarks of this collection are
larger than life women with fun reflections and
witty titles that invite you to become part of the
fantasy and make you smile.”
Visitors to fine art galleries in London, Vancouver,
Las Vegas, Laguna Beach and Maui have had the
opportunity to view this collection.
Paul continues to live in British Columbia near his
son Simon, as well as his sisters Janet and Kim.