Michigan Portfolio (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781477632093)

I began painting as a watercolorist. I graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California with a degree in industrial design. (I wanted to design cars!) While there though, I took several painting courses. In the mid 70's Chrysler was having a tough time (so what's new ) and I started painting. It was almost all watercolor and it was, to a large extent, scenes from areas around Michigan. In all, I did about 200 paintings and had three one man shows during this time. After retiring in 1999, my wife and began splitting our time between Suttons Bay, Michigan and Bonita Springs, Florida and I started painting again. One of my goals was to learn how to paint in oils. Since my retirement I've done somewhere around 200 paintings and about half of them are oil. Every painting I do is a new challenge and I learn something from each one. I try to do more than just record the world around me. (A camera does a very good job of that) I want to let people see what I see in a way that is fresh to them. I try to capture the emotion of the scene in front of me. I feel that in makes my work more "painterly" and less "rendered". This can be seen in strong strokes of paint and obvious brushstrokes. I have been fortunate in finding broad acceptance of my work winning numerous awards in shows around Florida. I am represented by several galleries in Michigan and Gallerie Unique here in Florida. Neil Walling