BUSINESS is booming for a Baildon man who has captured a host of football and rugby league grounds on canvas.

Paul Town, 51, runs Stadium Portraits, where fans can take their pick of their favourite team's home ground in an oil painting or print. He has painted a host of Britain's greatest grounds from Exeter City to Aberdeen and virtually every team in between.

His business produces prints of his oil paintings and also 1,000-piece jigsaws of some of the designs, which has proved popular during the months since the start of the pandemic with more than 300 sold since March.

He started the business 10 years ago after being given some painting equipment as a Christmas present from his mother. It quickly took off and one of his earliest creations was a painting of the Bradford (Park Avenue) ground from the 1960s.

 

Mr Town, who is a Bradford City fan, was commissioned to paint the Hampden Park Trilogy by Queens Park Football Club, which resulted in an exhibition at Hampden Park, the home of Scottish football, in December 2019.

He has also had his works placed within the time capsule buried underneath the new stand at Exeter City.

He said: "Since covid started, it has got really really busy.

"People are not going to the pub, so they have more money to spend on things like oil paintings.

"Scotland is still big for us. Scotland is really vibrant.

"When I started around 10 years ago people were making orders very quickly. It snowballed through social media.

It is a gallery-style product selling to the fans. It is a hobby that works as a business

"Bradford City pictures sell well and Leeds United has been really big this year. I did a picture of Norman Hunter and Trevor Cherry standing side by side, who have both died this year.

"I paint lots of supporters leaving the stadium. I am doing a lot of private commissions at the moment for family and friends."

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Paul Town with one of his stadium paintings Paul Town with one of his stadium paintings

Mr Town returned to a full-time job in construction a month ago and still manages to juggle his time to run his painting business.

He said: "It is nice to be out in the fresh air again. It gives you time to think about your next painting.

"It's not just about sport, it's about people and what they saw back then. I just paint what I see."

Mr Town is also looking ahead and planning to do a collection of paintings of rugby league grounds as they used to look, including Bradford Bulls' former home, Odsal.

But before then he is expecting a big rush of orders leading up to the festive period.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Paul Town's image of Odsal Paul Town's image of Odsal

He added: "Christmas does get busy. I have been selling throughout the year.

"But Christmas may not be as vibrant as usual this year because people are watching their pennies."

Go to stadiumportraits.com for more information.