Paul Martin obituary

My friend Paul Martin, who has died aged 73 of pancreatic cancer, was a painter whose work was rooted in nature: preoccupied by the “scratchy, tough reality of things”. But his locations, and the figures which sometimes peopled them, were more metaphorical than representational: familiar but also otherworldly.Born in Bournemouth, Paul was the son of Alice (nee Moland), a secretary, and John Martin, a hydro-electric engineer, who died when Paul was 10. Paul grew up in Rugby, Warwicksh