Dennis Morton began his formal training while living in New Hampshire, apprenticing under Richard Whitney. Whitney was an artist of renown who was commissioned by the Secretary of the Nacy James Webb and by the Roman Catholic Church for a portrait of Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros. Morton became Whitney's assistant and worked on both the Webb and Medeiros portraits. Morton soon matured as a portrait artist himself and has completed many pieces of important people.
Morton moved to Hawaii in 1991 and began to aggressively pursue his interest and talents in landscape painting. Many of his pieces reflect the area of Windward O'ahu, particularly Kaneohe and Ka'a'awa. Over the years his style of painting has ranged from extreme realism to impressionistic.

Dennis has been painting since 1972. His training and initial work in New England was as a portrait artist. During this period he exhibited in a series of one man shows. In 1988 Morton was honored at the New Hampshire State House where twenty of his paintings were exhibited. Then Governor John Sununu purchased six of the larger paintings.
Dennis moved to Hawaii in 1991 and continued to receive commissions in portrait painting. After time however his focus shifted mostly to landscapes. His landscape paintings of Hawaii can be found in offices of the Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank as well as the courtyards of Punahou, the Castle Medical Center and in many private collections. Morton's "Waimea Horses", one of a series of twelve Mauna Kea
landscapes, won first place for the Palette Award of the Hawiian Association of Artists.
Most of the time Dennis paints out of doors. "You have to struggle sometimes to find the right spot," he says, "but the place often carries the whole painting." Bringing a composition to completion may require returning to the location numerous times to observe and experience the natural colors, lighting and shadows. Capturing that "right balance" allows him to recreate in his painting not just the visual beauty, but also the emotional response to the scene that initially inspired him to choose a particular location.