Paul Newton, is an Australian artist who has twice won the Packing Room Award at the Archibald Prize. Paul Newton won People's Choice Award in the year 2001 and with it he also won the Packing Room Prize. He won in 1996 with a portrait of announcer John Laws CBE, and again in 2001 with a portrait of characters Roy Slaven and HG Nelson, which also won the People's Choice Award.
He has works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, and is a portrait artist for Parliament House. He has painted Prime Ministers and Governor General Sir William Deane AC, KBE. Other portraits by him have been Archibald Prize finalists including paintings of model Kate Fischer in 1997; model Maggie Tabberer AM in 1999; rugby player David Campese AM in 2000 (which was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery). He has also won portrait competitions in Philadelphia and the The Portrait Society of America's 2003 International Portrait Competition in Washington DC.
In 1999 a portrait he did of Bryce Courtenay AM was hung in the Salon des Refuses, Archibald. A portrait of John Doyle he did was also hung in the Salon des Refuses in 1995.
In 2002 he painted arts figure Brett Sheehy AO for that year's Archibald Prize with the painting later being a finalist in the 2004 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
In 2003 an image painted on Ian Thorpe's jeans by Paul Newton was used as a pin for the Jeans for Genes Day and the jeans were later auctioned for $26,000 [1]