Paul Kenton

Paul Kenton is a British cityscape artist, based in North Devon. Kenton is mainly known for his scenes of London, New York and Paris.
== Early Life ==
Kenton was born in Derby in 1968, but his family relocated to North Devon when he was eight years old.. He showed an interest in painting from an early age, after winning a national colouring competition, with a set of paints as the first prize. He continued to paint throughout school, working mostly in watercolour and focussing on the North Devon coastlines as his subjects. He was not awarded a place at art college due to his English grades so instead gained a Bachelor of Engineering from Stafford University. After university he worked as a draughtsman for several years while still painting in his spare time.
== Professional career ==
Kenton is now established as a cityscape painter, mainly working on scenes of London, New York and Paris. He is currently published via Castle Fine Art, alongside Bob Dylan, Lorenzo Quinn and Billy Connolly.
== Significant works and events ==
In 2008, Kenton was invited to paint live in the windows of Harrods, Knightsbridge, in support of his exhibition at Halycon Gallery, the first artist to do so.
In 2010, Kenton was selected to participate in Elephant Parade London 2010. Elephant Parade is a social enterprise, running large outdoor art exhibitions of decorated elephant statues. Each Elephant Parade statue is a bespoke art piece, created by selected artists and celebrities. The life sized baby elephant statues are then exhibited in international cities to raise awareness for the need for elephant conservation. 
In 2012 Kenton was commissioned to paint three large pieces for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The three paintings were hung in the Olympic park for the duration of the games.
Also in 2012, Kenton was chosen as a contributing artist to The Big Egg Hunt 2012, one of the largest interactive public art displays ever held in London.
In 2015, Kenton worked with Brazilian footballer Pelé, to paint him in person in order to create five portrait works. He was one of the artists commissioned to create paintings and sculptures for an exhibition at Halcyon Gallery, to celebrate Pelé's 75th birthday.http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Pele-Art-Life-Football-price-list.pdf
In 2016, Kenton worked with Sega Europe on a joint collection celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, featuring 25 original pieces from several British artists. The Sonic 25 Collection pays homage to the video game character.
=== Other exhibitions ===
*'Metallique' (2017)
*'Metallique II' (2018)
*'London/New York', Chase Contemporary Gallery, New York (2019)
== Style == 
After starting his professional career working primarily in watercolour, Kenton's style gradually evolved over the next 20 years as he began working in more elaborate and experimental media. His current work (2022) is mainly created in textured layers of oils or acrylics, onto aluminium, copper, wood and canvas, resulting in a largely Impressionism style. He regularly paints en plein air, in both cities and countrysides, to build up the required reference material for his full studio paintings.
Category:20th-century English painters
Category:English contemporary artists
Category:English male painters
Category:English mixed media artists