Paul Kavanaugh said art has always been an important part of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing artwork my whole life. It kind of runs in the family,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kavanaugh served in the Army after high school, and he said he took his art with him, working on several murals during training. Art became a way for him to get to know people as well, and just cope with the stress of training and military life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArt was definitely something that helped me get through that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving the military, he attended art classes at Johnson County Community College, an experience which he said allowed him to explore many different art mediums. However, most of his work is acrylic and watercolor painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kavanaugh said his work tends to center around a theme, and he\u2019ll do a series on the same theme, with his most common subject matter being people, animals, and landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really enjoy the whole process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like building something with your hands, you get to see what you create.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kavanaugh said he\u2019s looking forward to the art show next year because he enjoys the feedback and discussion around his art from viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone looks at art differently, and I like hearing the different things that people see, and it may be something that I never would have thought of,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kavanaugh said he\u2019s participated in a few shows before, including First Fridays in the Crossroads and another show in North Kansas City, and he said his hope in exhibiting his art is that something about the colors or the subject or the technique will cause people to pause for a moment and let themselves be drawn into the piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of his techniques are self-taught, he explained, and he\u2019s developed his skills over a lifetime of making art. Now, he said his goal is to start to share his work more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hobby, but it\u2019s also a passion,\u201d he said of his artwork.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paul Kavanaugh said art has always been an important part of his life. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing artwork my whole life. It kind of runs in the family,\u201d he said. Kavanaugh served in the Army after high school, and he said he took his art with him, working on several murals during training. Art became a way for him to get to know people as well, and just cope with the stress of training and military life. \u201cArt was definitely something that helped me get through that,\u201d he said. After leaving the military, he attended art classes at Johnson County Community…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,164,139],"tags":[159,162,163],"class_list":["post-22419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-veteran-art","category-visual-arts","tag-artist","tag-interview","tag-veteran"],"yoast_head":"\n