Paul Bachem was born and raised on the North Shore of Long Island, east of New York City. He studied with Harold Ransom Stevenson and Alma Gallanos Stevenson from 1975 till 1977. During that time Paul was a member of the Stevenson's Atelier program which was a two year period of intense study of the traditional craft of drawing and painting.

Upon leaving the Stevensons, Paul began a long career as a freelance illustrator. He has worked for clients in New York City, across the country and as far away as Sydney, Australia. A partial list of clients includes Random House, Simon and Schuster, Scholastic Inc., Weldon Owen Pty, Ltd., The Pleasant Company, Coty, Field and Stream, Forbes, and numerous advertising agencies. He was awarded a certificate of merit at the Society of Illustrators 35th annual exhibition. Paul's work is in the permanent collection of the Forbes Gallery in New York.

Over the past few years he has spent more and more time pursuing his passion for plein air painting. He is an associate member of the New York Plein Air Painters and a founding member of the Long Island Plein Air Painters Society. He is represented by Gallery North in Setauket, New York, LaMantia Gallery in Northport, New York (where he was named Best in Show at the first annual Northport Plein Air Event) and Robert Paul Galleries in Stowe, VT. He has been selected twice for inclusion in the Greenwich Workshop's Small Works North America Exhibition and Sale. His painting "Wild Sweet William" was awarded with inclusion in the Top 40 of that exhibition. Paul was also the featured artist in "Informed Collector" magazine in April of 2009. He has been included in the FAV 15% of the Fine Art Studio Online Monthly painting competition five times, most recently in September of 2010. Paul has also been selected to participate in "Plein Air Easton!" 2010, a prestigious East Coast plein air event in Easton, MD.

Aside from painting, Paul enjoys playing classical guitar and chess. Of the two he is considered to be a very talented painter!

He lives and works in Locust Valley, New York with his wife Janice, herself a talented painter and sculptor.