The Artisan

The owner and primary artisan for Impressionistic Painting is Michael Horst. His interests in art started back in his early school days when he worked in a variety of art mediums. At the age of 18 he taught art classes in a private school.

When Mike decided to go to college he learned the trade of conventional house painting in order to pay his way through college. He finished his education with two degrees yet kept gravitating back to the painting industry.

It was 18 years ago, while Mike was running his painting business in San Diego, California, that he first heard about decorative painting techniques. He was fascinated with this blending of art and wall finishing, which seemed like the perfect marriage for his interests, talents and experience. About the time he started running out of wall space in his own home, customers began finding out about these new skills and started asking Mike to do walls in their homes. Even though his business was still focused on conventional painting, he began dreaming about doing decorative painting on a full time basis.

The Dream

With every wall Mike painted, this dream continued to grow within him. When Mike moved his family to Branson Missouri and built his dream house on Table Rock Lake, it became the perfect time to transition into making the dream a reality. In 2005 the name "Impressionistic Painting" was chosen for this new adventure and the rest has been history in the making. Mike no longer limits himself to merely doing decorative painting on walls but also on ceilings (the fifth wall), floors, furniture, etc.

The Training

The first formal training Mike had was under a mentor that went through the decorative painting apprenticeship program in Germany. That experience was like adding gasoline to Mike's nagging dream, so trips to a number of the top training schools in the country were made to refine and expand his skills.

Mike is constantly amazed at how much he has learned from his customers. Many of them have developed a refined eye and understand what it takes to make the world around them a more beautiful place to live. It is especially to those customers Mike wants to express a sincere thanks for their encouragement and for supporting his dream to make ordinary things, ExtraOrdinary!

The Invitation

Since Branson is the second most driven to vacation spot in America, the opportunities both in the residential, commercial and entertainment industry abound. Mike is looking forward to continuing to serving this community which he is pleased to now call home.

Mike is available to do projects in other parts of the country, so if you live outside of the Branson, Missouri area, feel free to contact Mike about any decorative painting work you would like to have done.

The Passion

As we get older many of us feel like we want to do something to make a positive difference in the world. Mike's love for art and family created in him a passion to make other peoples homes a fun place for their family to have a special place, a retreat that truly reflects who they are. So much in our society pushes us into a cookie cut, impersonally manufactured box many call their house. Some merely see this as a place to sleep and grab some food while they run, run, run; but the question needs to be asked, what ever happened to the concept of "HOME?" Mike believes that a house must be more than a mere financial investment in our ever growing portfolio. He believes that a house that never transitions into a home, is a poor investment indeed.

A home should be a place of refuge...
  A safe and fun place for relationships, both family and friends...
    A place to make memories for a lifetime through meaningful traditions,
      A place for healing laughter and for dreaming,
        And a place where dreams should become reality!

          This is the place I call home.

          -Michael Horst

P.S. If the walls in your home could speak, what would they say?