28.03.24

 

Michelle was born in 1962 in Michigan and raised in Ohio before coming to Alberta, Canada as a young adult. She now resides in Edmonton, AB, Canada with her husband Sean and their family. She is the mother of 8 and grandmother of 10.

Michelle’s earliest memories are of watching her grandfather paint and listen to his stories about her great, great-grandfather who painted the church ceiling in Serra San Bruno, Italy. She had no idea that one day she would follow in his footsteps. Her first revelation came at 14, when she and her best friend began sketching a vase together. «I realize now that I was drawing, «from life». It opened the floodgates for a lifelong passion.

After early training in Commercial Art, she began to paint with oils in 2003. Representational oil paintings are Michelle`s passionate focus. In love with oils from the very first brush stroke, she realized the breadth, depth and width of oils is inexhaustible. Using the paint to its fullest, she uses thin transparent darks and thicker lights to add vibrancy to her work. After studying with Dan Gerhartz, the nuances of painting from life were opened before her , she paints life studies on location and works from life in the studio. Depicting beauty for Michelle results from a special use of an illuminating light. Color, edges and value help breathe life into the canvas.

Figurative Artwork Michelle’s favorite subjects are primarily women and children because they convey thought, emotion or mood so easily. It is her aim to capture the light and beauty of the moment. . .To tell the story of the splendor of everyday life and portray a simpler time, one that can’t be defined.

Still Life It is Michelle’s desire to express the movement of light and richness of color, to capture the magnificence of the ordinary.
Michelle’s Philosophy

Following is an excerpt from the Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to Artists, and it has a special meaning to me. My motto is Per Dei Gratium, Pro Dei Gloria: By God’s Grace, for God’s Glory. I sign each painting with the private dedication Tota Tua (totally yours). For me painting is a gift I received so I try to give it back, I never paint without prayer first, there is a deep spiritual element to it.

«You are the custodians of beauty: thanks to your talent, you have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement… be grateful, then, for the gifts you have received and be fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty, to communicate in and through beauty!» — Pope Benedict XVI

Per Dei Gratium, Pro Dei Gloria

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