Painting is what I do to make sure I’m really seeing the world around me and appreciating it.
“Art is a departure from ordinary reality from which one returns to find life more beautiful, more understandable, or more bearable.”
I think this quote originated with Robert Henri. Anyway, the words are a constant reminder to me what it is that I do. My experience as a painter has proven that definition of the Art experience. While I’m painting, especially when I’m painting from life, the world around me takes on an enhanced quality: colors are brighter, the life force seems stronger, time is suspended, and I feel wrapped in a profound appreciation for life, attuned to the beauty in all things.
My mother was a great facilitator so I learned to draw early, painted a picture every year or so and as a young man took a couple of classes in drawing and design at the University of Texas in Austin. After University I moved to Arkansas and became a “generalist” (carpenter, farmer, plumber, electrician, etc.) applying my creative energy to the many tasks of rural life and raising children in Stone County, Arkansas.
In 1986 I started painting in earnest, studying techniques of Impressionism and Realism with a few instructors, but mostly I’ve followed my own course. Over the last 33 years, my work has been shown in 14 states and has won top prizes in several national competitions, including an Award of Excellence at the American Impressionist Society’s 2011 National Juried Show in Carmel, California.
After living at the end of the road for over 30 years, my wife, Anne and I moved to Fayetteville in 2003, where the community has been an inspiration for my artwork. My work includes figure painting, landscapes, street scenes and still life but I have yet to paint my masterpiece.
MM Kent
Awards
2012- Best of Show – Herman Jaegger Festival Plein Air Competition – Neosho MO
2011- American Art Collector Award of Excellence
American Impressionist Society 12th Annual National Juried Show
Mountainsong Gallery, Carmel, CA
2010- 5th place- paint the town Plein Air Competition
Marble Falls TX
2009- 3rd place- Heart of America Plein Air Event
Bentonville AR
2009- Honorable Mention- Navarro County National Juried Show
Corsicana TX
2009- 3rd place- St. Charles Plein Air Competition
St. Charles MO
2006- Founder’s Award, Plein Air juried Competition
Springfield MO
2003- Wine Label Award, The Nude, Lexington Art League
Lexington KY
2002- First Place National Society of Artists
20th National Juried Show
Nassau Bay TX
2002-Best of Show Hilton Head Art League-
2002 Nat’l Juried Exhibition
Self Family Arts Center
Hilton Head SC