Rick Kennington grew up in environments much like those he paints: seemingly endless spaces, mountain backdrops, blue skies, and the steady resolve of cowboys and others whose lives are quietly, solidly entwined with the West. A lifelong resident of Utah, living near the Wasatch Mountains, Kennington’s parents were both from Star Valley, Wyoming, and he spent much of his childhood visiting his grandfather in that area.
That’s when the painting began. From his first painting, when he was 18, of his grandfather on a horse, it’s been an ongoing pull toward portraying that life and lifestyle that has kept Kennington busy as an artist for more than 30 years.
“My parents would drop me off, and I’d spend time with my grandfather, doing chores, going horseback riding,” he says. “It’s just really inspiring, growing up in that environment and being very impressionable. It’s my family—my grandfather, my cousins, aunts, uncles—the whole lifestyle of working hard and being out in nature. That’s me. I loved it.
Read the full article in the January/February 2024 issue.
Fishing on the Fly
Oil
16″ by 20″
Where the Tracks End
Oil
32″ by 48″
