Member Spotlight - Michael Kumley
Mike Kumley is a self-taught Dallas-area artist working primarily in soft pastel and acrylic. His work ranges from realistic landscapes and animals to stylized interpretations of nature and the whimsical world of his Cat House Capers™ series.
Growing up in the country and on farms in Wisconsin gave Mike an early appreciation for nature, landscapes, and animals. He spent much of his time exploring the countryside, an experience that continues to influence the subjects he is drawn to today. His love of travel has expanded that inspiration, with landscapes and natural settings encountered around the world often finding their way into his work.
Mike approaches his subjects in distinctly different ways. His soft pastel work focuses on light, texture, and detail, while his acrylic landscapes simplify the natural world through bold color, shape, and rhythmic movement. Across both, he is drawn to atmosphere and the small details that make a particular place or moment memorable.
Cat House Capers™ takes that same sense of observation in a more playful direction. Inspired by a lifelong love of cats and years of witnessing their curiosity, innocence, and questionable decision-making, the series turns those familiar moments into small visual stories through the eyes of Tux, a little kitten in a big world.
Whether realistic, stylized, or whimsical, Mike hopes his work invites people to pause, look a little longer, and find their own connection with what they see.
More of Mike’s work can be found at MikeKumleyArt.com.
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