Michael started painting in 1988. He is a member of Friends of Hazelhurst, Southern Cross Art Group, and Bankstown Art Society.
He sometimes paints “en plein air” with his fellow artists, but mostly in his home studio, “Kurrajong”. His favoured medium is acrylics. He paints landscapes, portraits, and abstracts and favours a contemporary/modern style. He has completed many commissions including two large external murals.
Early Days:
Although as a young person he did not draw any more than the average person, he was very interested in photography. He took the majority of the family photographs and also looked for special effects in rural subjects and in structures such as bridges and buildings. These photos were in black and white and were developed and printed in the kitchen sink using a Kodak Home Developing Kit. His artistic design leanings also showed in the fact that he made jewellery by copper enamelling and by lapidary.
He started experimenting with drawing and sketching techniques while attending Sydney University for his Engineering and Science degrees in the 1960s when he should have been studying. Later on he made his own ‘home-made’ paper. He has written a children’s storybook (unpublished), a book of short stories, poems and ephemera and is writing his memoirs. He has produced and sold many hundreds of greeting cards reproduced from his paintings.
Later Activity:
He judged the Sutherland Shire Festival of Arts & Crafts Exhibition 2009 (eleven categories). His work has been hung at Sutherland Art Gallery, Art Gallery-Kurnell, Timbertown Gallery, Wauchope and Imagine Gallery, Jannali. He exhibits in local art shows and has sold over 400 paintings to date. He is developing a loose, contemporary style to express his feelings about the Australian landscape and the Australian way of life. He loves to capture iconic, local features and everyday scenes such as those seen along the railway line, that others pass by without noticing. Historic rural subjects such as shearing sheds, grain silos, derelict farmhouses and harvesting time are an interest along with street scenes and café scenes. More recently he is indulging in still life painting in a contemporary/modern style.
He was one of the inaugural cooperative of ten artists who set up Art Gallery-Kurnell in 2008.
He has won numerous awards including 1st Prize in the Royal Easter Show Art
Exhibition in 2015:
Award of Excellence Medallion for Rural Subject and/or Landscape Painting ($2,000 prize).
“Longest water trough near Derby, WA”
and the Annual Oyster Bay Art and Craft Show three times.
Ambition:
His dream is to gain wider recognition as a Sydney artist. He is almost settled on his own personal style and favourite subject matter. He can however paint almost any subject from Old Masters to contemporary in styles from realist to impressionist.
He continues to sell regularly and is represented in a growing number of homes both here and overseas.
He married his wife Lorraine in 1968 – she is his best critic and greatest supporter. They have three grown up children and seven grandchildren. He hopes at least one of them will turn out to be artistic and nurtures any sign with enthusiasm. Two of them are clearly showing creative artistic skills.
You can visit his website at: australianartist.net | 
