Urban Landscapes

A series of watercolours exploring moments of the rare, and fleeting experiences of clarity, inner stillness, and harmony.

I set out to experiment sampling different art mediums and subjects. life drawing the foundation in all art forms, chalk pastel in figurative studios, I embarked painting in oils working on landscapes of local scenes and abstract landscapes, and watercolour painting. Subjects during this time ranged from oil painting in landscapes, and experimenting in abstract and figurative works.

Over the years my career evolved in many different visual art positions. Starting with classic animation drawing working on TV specials, I moved into commercial art as a paste up artist as well as a film stripper and label designer in the printing industry. This knowledge developed into a self employed graphic designer, illustration artist, and website creator.

My art has evolved into exploring our urban life where we live, work and play; where the signs of the present and past cultures live together. My paintings illustrate the constantly evolving urban landscape carefully drafted watercolours with mood and feeling.‍ ‍where people that have energy relax, and and Michael’s paintings feature restaurants, boutiques and coffee houses viewed from the street. Some store fronts have business signs and murals with the building tagged by graffiti artists. In the some neighbourhoods scenes show historic buildings rendered in their original condition. Other paintings feature buildings in disrepair showing better days gone by. Urban landscapes feature locations that have a creative vibe where people gather to work, play and express their cultures.

The render memories of moments of rare, fleeting experiences of clarity, inner stillness, and harmony. An illustrated scenes of people and places in neighbourhoods. Vintage buildings, hangouts, standstore fronts are recorded, some landscapes of perfection.

Visiting a location with an interesting urban feeling I walk around the space and take pictures. Afterwords the image is placed on a large screen computer and decisions are made on the direction of the painting. Revisions are made as I look at the shapes and colours and clear details for a strong composition. A colour print is made of the revised photo and then used as reference while painting.

My interest in painting urban scenes began while walking in different neighbourhoods in 2020 during the Covid lockdown. While visiting more locations it became a catalyst to explore life in the city and to develop a series of detailed paintings in watercolour. Taking many photographs assisted in capturing details of the scene, observing that each neighbourhood had their own unique vibe. Using photo software was used to modify the images and aided the composition and then was printed out and used as reference during painting. The process of creating the watercolour painting starts first by drafting in pencil and then adding transparent colours to illustrate the feeling into the urban landscape.

Detailed watercolours document urban landscapes that express diverse cultures inhabiting that space.

Photo taken for painting reference.

The painting process starts when the image is transferred into pencil line placed on acid free professional quality watercolour paper. Keeping it simple I use a basic colour watercolour palette, this aids in mixing and blending different colours and hues to create more depth. Painting starts by lightly adding in the shades.