Paul Brent is an American artist born in Oklahoma and brought up in Southern California. From the 1970s when he started off with water colors to the times he picked oil painting, he has seen nothing but growth. Brent is widely known for his paintings of beautiful beaches, although he also has landscape paintings to his name. He has been referred to by many as America's best coastal artist due to his ability to capture nature so well. Brent sold his first artwork in 1976; a piece he made using pen and ink on a white paper background. Later on, he started using canvas and watercolors. Brent often paints the beautiful scenes around him and beaches close to his studios in Seaside, Oregon, and Panama City, Florida. He went to California State College where he majored in art. Brent later transferred to University of California in Berkeley where he studied architecture.
In 1982, he launched a new style using watercolors. He would combine his artistic and architectural skills to create artwork that captures birds, fish, shells as well as injecting geometric shapes, triangles, curves and a host of other shapes. After the turn of the millennium, Brent started using oil paintings mainly on hand gessoed boards before introducing canvas and normal boards. Oil painting made it possible for him to explore the depth and layers of his subjects. Some of his current works combine both oil and water paint. Brent’s art is exhibited in a number of collections and have been recognized due to their depth, color, and composition. They are found in Meridian Museum of Art, Deland Museum of Art, Mississipi Museum of Art, Grand Junction, Bernadino County Museum, and more.