CLARENVILLE, N.L. — Meticulous detail, finely crafted and skill honed for all to see.
Having only been a painter for four, short years — a young Clarenville artist is still learning while he creates beautiful pieces of art that look at close to real as he can achieve.
Kyle Best, 20, told The Packet he’s always been interested in and has excelled at different aspects of art.
Before he’s taken on painting as a focus over the past four years, Best says he’s sketched extensively.
When he finishes a particular piece, he feels both proud and accomplished.
As he becomes a more and more accomplished painter, he’s also learning along the way—trying to achieve fine detail in his work.
“Right now, I’m just doing the basics — like scenery, the backgrounds for different types of things, animals,” says Best.
“(It’s) just to get used to it and after that I’ll start to do actual things I like to do.”
He says he eventually wants to paint more of the things he’s interested in, including people portraits.
But the art speaks for itself.
Case in point, he recently finished a large mural of a landscape with two people and a dog at the Clarenville ice cream parlour, Scoops.
Best notes it was the largest scale project he’s ever done and it was also the very first time he’s done people in one of his paintings. It took between 30 and 45 hours to paint.
Owner Kim Swire says she loves the mural.
“Everybody comes in and they’re amazed at how big it is and how nice it looks,” says Swire.
She even is thinking about putting a painted bench below the mural that blends into the backdrop colours.
Best is still always looking to grow. He wants to be as good as he can while also doing commission pieces for customers.
“Sometimes it’s a little stressful because there’s deadlines you have to meet. But if I’m just doing it on my own free time, it’s really relaxing.”
His quest for perfection stems from his most-focused interest in painting—realism.
“I really like doing details — high-detail.”
And he’ll keep working at his art until he reaches that level of detail. It applies to all aspects of his work.
“I just really enjoy painting, just like I enjoy drawing. I really enjoy anything that has to do with art in general. If I went into sculpting I would definitely try to get better at that too.”
Twitter: @jejparsons
