Kent Wallis Biography Continued:

     ...That suited him fine for about five years until he took up oil painting as a hobby. Six months later, hooked on oils, he left the corporate world, moved with his family to the university town of Logan, and established a small art supply business to feed them, all while he pursued painting.

     Before long, his booming art supply business began eating into Wallis' precious painting time. After they closed it, he and his wife, Laureen, and their seven children, faced their most financially challenging years ever.

     "Then, quite suddenly, in the fall of 1987, everything turned around for us," Wallis says. "I was invited to a major exhibition of American impressionists at the San Jose Museum of Art. I sold all eight of my paintings in one day. Up to that time, I barely sold that many in a year!"

     Kent Wallis had arrived. Now one of the premiere American impressionists, his big, bold canvases are as strikingly individual as the artist himself. Beginning with a bare white canvas, Wallis doesn't sit down until the canvas has been signed. Since many of his works approach 40 by 60 inches, that process can consume four or more sleepless days and nights.

     "The very essence of impressionism is spontaneity," he says, "so, if you want to be an impressionist, you have to learn to paint fast."

     Still, Wallis is quick to point out that while he shares some common goals with other impressionists, "I believe my work goes a step further," he says. "Most impressionists use small strokes of pastel colors and juxtapose them to create illusions. I prefer to use rich, deep color straight out of the tube and I apply them with broad, heavy strokes."

     Wallis' love of color is his greatest inspiration. "I think what the artist ultimately does is set about without words to communicate to other souls," he says. "My greatest strength as an artist lies in my ability to communicate with color."

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