bio

Based in Canterbury, Kent, Paul Gadenne is a Chartered Designer, with earlier experience in commercial interior architecture and exhibition design via his practice, Paul Gadenne Associates, active in the 1980s in both Canterbury and London.
He has lectured in Design at Hastings College of Art and spent over 20 years teaching Graphics and Design at St Edmund’s School, Canterbury. Additionally, Paul conducts adult art classes (“Art for Everyone”) in Dunkirk and Sandwich, Kent—these cover a wide range of media and creative levels .

He works with a wide range of mediums: watercolour, acrylic, oil, mixed media, pen and ink, printmaking, and more. His subject matter is varied, covering landscapes, townscapes, still life, figures,and narrative scenes.

Paul Gadenne’s work has appeared regularly in exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, the Royal Watercolour Society, and the prestigious Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Notably, his work was selected for the RA Summer Exhibition in 2013. He has participated and exhibited in local exhibitions such as Giles & Gadenne shows at the Pie Factory in Margate and the group show MAHL 24 alongside other prominent artists.

He competed on Sky Arts – Landscape Artist of the Year in 2015 (as heat runner-up at Waddesdon Manor) and again in 2021 at Chartwell, Kent .
He was awarded the Bainbridge-Copnall Art Trophy (Canterbury Society of Art) in 2014 for a work titled Leviathan, was runner-up in the Winsor & Newton Prize at a Royal Watercolour Society open exhibition for No. 3 Slip and received the Cassart Colour award at the 2025 Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour exhibition at the Mall Galleries with his Hillbrow painting.
His paintings are held in both public and private collections across the UK and internationally.

Paul Gadenne has written instructional articles for the Artist magazine, is a member of East Kent Art Society and is the founder member of Urban Sketchers Canterbury.

selected exhibitions

The Royal Institute for Painters in Watercolours Exhibition

The Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

The London Group Open Exhibition

The Royal Watercolour Society Open Exhibition

The Art in the Dockyard Exhibition, Chatham

The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

The "Outside The White Cube"

The Cork Street Open Art Exhibition

The Artist and Leisure Painter Exhibition

The Turner Contemporary Open Exhibition

Chelsea Art Society Open Exhibition

Green and Stone Summer Exhibition

ING Discerning Eye Exhibtion

Finalist in British Contemporary Art Arwards 2026

Society of Graphic Fine Art Exhibition