"In my previous career, I spent a lot of time in Asia . . .when I looked at paintings at all, Chinese brush painting, which is a very pure and rigorous form, seemed most of all like the kind of painting I would have liked to make " he says. "I suppose that they stayed with me and helped influence my work."

His work has been described as "deeply contemplative" and "a unique perspective on the Irish landscape", but Paul insists that he hasn't become precious about his art. "I have no time for intellectualising art " Paul first got his break into the art world when he started showing his work on the railings of St. Stephen's Green in Dublin back in 2003.

Since then, his career has gone stellar, selling out several exhibitions, including a recent solo show at Gormley's Gallery and counting actor Colin Farrell as one of his fans.

"The way people have taken to my paintings is a constant joy. I spent 20 years in a corporate career I didn't like and now I'm getting paid to do something that I love and would do for free."

Annie West A native of Glasgow, Annie West moved to Ireland to study in the Dun Laoghaire College of Art & Design. With her new exhibition, "Yeats in Love", she hopes to provide a new perspective to the writer WB Yeats. "There's been a lot of information about the literature, but not the man himself."

In her exhibition, Annie portrays Yeats as a lovesick poet who is infatuated with Maud Gonne. Her illustrations chronicle his various attempts at marriage proposal, highlighting the funny side of his romantic endeavours.

"We've all studied his poems in school, so I thought that it might make them more accessible if I came at them from a different angle."

So far, the "Yeats in Love" series hasn't met with any strong objections, despite the fact Annie lives in Sligo, which has a strong connection to the poet. "The Yeats Society seem to have taken my illustrations on board, they definitely see the funny side, which is of course the point of my work."

Yeats in Love will open on July 8th in the 101 Talbot St.

Gallery in Dublin and will continue there until July 28th, when it will move to the Cat & the Moon Gallery in Sligo as part of the Yeats Summer School and Festival.

John Hurley Based in Kerry, John Hurley first started painting in 1984 after graduating from the National College of Art & Design. After a stint in the banking sector, he got back into the art world in 1998, holding exhibitions in Ireland and the UK.

In 2005, John set up his own gallery in Tralee. "I opened up my own gallery after suffering much frustration in other galleries."

John focuses much of his work on the Kerry coastline, but rather than painting a direct reproduction, he attempts to "invoke the energy of the landscape" "My art is an intuitive and physical response to the elemental forces that stir the seas and buffet the beaches and headlands."

Although the coastline inspires much of John's art, he is moving inland to find more inspiration. "I've based a lot more of my work on the bogscapes of Kerry, capturing the flora and fauna of the area."

Despite his success, John is not stopping there. "Over the next few months, I'll be sustaining and developing my gallery in Tralee and hopefully opening another one in Dublin."