September Q&A with Michael

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Sep 29, 2024

A few weeks ago I prompted readers for questions they might pose to Michael if they had the opportunity. Here are a couple that prompted amazing responses from the artist himself.

A young woman wearing an oversized red tunic and blue jeans stands barefoot on a ladder high up in an enormous chamber. Patterned with recessed panels, the wall gives the impression of a vast ancient library with no books on the shelves. The wall curves suggesting the space might possibly go on forever. As she props opens a panel and stoops to peer out, her straight blonde hair is swept to one side so we can see her face bathed in light. The light pouring in cuts a downward diagonal past a transparent sphere that dangles from a wide silver ring looped at her waist, although the top half of the ring is obscured by the drape of her shirt. — LUMEN 6 (1999), Acrylic on Panel - 32" x 32"

Laura Lasley: I've always loved Michael's work, whether illustration or original. I'm curious if (other than Audrey, Alexa, Adrian or yourself) you imagine the people you paint in either format, if you use models or if you're inspired by faces you see when out and about. Thanks!

MRW: All of the above!

For figures in a painting below a certain size, I just invent them. But when clothing or a particular difficult lighting situation appears, I often find it helpful to pose myself or others to make sure I don’t make an obvious mistake.

LEFT: Adrian in cowboy hat and long gray coat holds two revolvers with fingers on the triggers. The pistol in his right hand is pointed up as he glances toward the camera. RIGHT: In cowboy hat and long gray coat, Michael holds a pistol while he reaches across to his holders for other. — Adrian and Michael posing for I TRAVEL BY NIGHT

When I’m reading a novel that I’ve been commissioned to illustrate, I form an image in my head of what a particular character looks like, and that guides me in my portrayal. Usually models for my illustration are posed so I can get the clothing right; the looks of the character rarely have anything to do with the person posing. Hell, I often pose myself, and I very rarely read a book where I really see myself as the character!

A sequence of three photos with Michael posing with a wooden katana. He's dressed in leather coat with studs along the arms. His boots are thigh high. — Michael exploring poses for A MEMORY OF LIGHT

The model who posed for the figure in A MEMORY OF LIGHT had short black hair and didn’t look anything like Rand as I had pictured him.

Framed in the eye-shaped opening of a cave, Rand al'Thor stands with one arm shading his eyes as he holds a glass sword horizontally aloft. He wears a red coat with ornate gold trim. His belt is an undulating Chinese dragon. Slung on his left hip are a sword and dagger. Behind him, a moon hangs in partial eclipse. The background of the cover illustration is divided by a stalactite pillar. To the left of it, Moiraine in blue dress and Nynaeve in yellow hurry after Rand as he takes a lunging step further into Shayol Ghul. — A MEMORY OF LIGHT (2012), Acrylic - 24" x 36"

In my non-commissioned work, it depends on the subject and what I’m aiming to say in the work. I’ve painted models as they are whenever they fit the intention. Generally speaking, however, they are there to represent all of humanity, so it doesn’t matter much who is portrayed as long as they appeal subjectively to the theme—and are fun to paint.

In a desolate parking lot, a young man in jeans and t-shirt lies back on a grassy island to shine a spotlight straight up into the night sky. Sparsely stippled, the heavens are awash in celestial vision as if touched by the clouds of a nebulae, rendered delicately in lavender over dark blue. Power runs from the light the man holds to a nearby car battery where jumper cables are clamped to the terminals. Fanned facing down, a book lies discard on the curb next to a soccer ball, which lies in the grass just beyond the man's head. Below the curb at his feet, a basketball rests on the cracked blacktop. — THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008), Acrylic - 24" x 36"

Once in a while I will come across a person who fits a particular vision I have for something I am working on. In that case I either awkwardly ask the person if they will pose for me [see RIVER] or I’ll try to memorize the qualities which distinguished that person and do a guide sketch for myself as soon as I can.

Reclining on a low broken branch, a woman in white diaphanous gown rests against a tree trunk. Lost in contemplation, her eyes are pressed closed. Her hair falls in tight waves of blonde down her back, and a lavender sash crosses her waist from behind. Tacked to the trunk above her, a red glass heart hangs from a ribbon. The forest beyond is partially obscured by branches of a conifer. Soft light cuts diagonals through the misty air. The tree squats on a grassy island. At its front edge, an open vessel half filled with water contains a solitary flame. A branch crosses in front of the tripod stand it sits upon. A skull is revealed in a knob of the branch, a memento mori revealing the woman's thoughts. — RIVER (1996), Oil on Canvas - 48" x 36"

Sometimes I’ll take photos of the person. During my son’s NYU graduation ceremonies I spotted a man in the crowd who was a rather hip looking albino, so I took some photos of him on the sly. I thought he had an excellent facial structure that might work well in a future Elric painting!

It all depends. I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m ducking the question, but there are so many approaches that come into play depending on so many oblique factors that I can’t make a really definitive reply.

At a kitchen table surrounded by aliens, a man in overalls and white shirt with sleeves rolled up holds up a sugar cone topped with chocolate ice cream. He stares knowingly at the camera with mouth cocked in a dimpled grin. Behind him, a woman in apron nervously offers an ice cream to a creature with purple fur and horns on its head. In the foreground right, a lobster-red insectile alien stares down in surprise at his dripping treat. The last alien, bulky and green with bulbous head and tiny red eyes, extends its bumpy pink tongue from pronounced mandible in a long slurp. In one of its four hands, it holds a tiny cookie from the plate set on the table between guests. Seated in the foreground left with back angled toward the audience, a human boy, distracted from his dessert by the oddball affair, seems enthralled by the visitors. The background is a haze of bright yellow with white highlights defining an arched window. — WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE (1977), Acrylic on Illustration Board - 20" x 16"

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Eric Iverson: I particularly love the use of symbolism in Michael’s work. Some are obvious and others you really have to look for. My question is:

What is one of your personal favorite symbols in your work (a certain painting or one that reappears in many) that you love but people tend to miss?

MRW: Well, the ones that people tend to miss are mostly intentionally obscure because they have a private meaning for me—which I prefer to keep that way. That is often the “personal” part of a “personal work”, after all.

For all its simplicity, for example, EYE has multiple layers of personal relevance, meaningful only to me. Others can conjecture about it, but I know what it means to me, and that’s all I care about. If those meanings have driven the image to become something universal and evocative to others, that’s a pleasing and welcome benefit.

A smooth stone piling stands tall at the edge of the water on a white sand beach. Set near the top, a circle wrought in rusted iron provides a view through to where the water meets the shore. The circle is bisected by a diagonal like a no symbol. Water pools at the base of the piling. The withdrawn tide has left a wavy line of white pebbles deposited along the sinuous water line. — EYE (2002), Oil on Linen - 72" x 36"

The Dactyloceras ammonite fossils appearing in my “Virtues” paintings are symbols of extinction, loss, diminishment. What is being said, then, is that it is my perception that the virtues represented are, alas, in short supply these days. [For some paintings, like PATIENCE for example, it is a personal acknowledgement, that is, self-criticism, a recognition that the virtue is not what I wish it could be in myself.]

Out of the water slender outcrops of stone stand earthy bronze in contrast to blue skies barely marked with traces of cloud. Attached to the top one of the thicker shards of pitted, textured stone is an intact spiral of an ammonite fossil. Lazing across the upper curve of the ridged shell, a woman raises her head to catch golden rays of light and an ocean breeze that carries the long locks of her sunflower blonde hair. The bare curve of her hip suggests that she's not wearing anything. — PATIENCE (1996), Acrylic on Panel - 13" x 10 ½"

Thanks Laura and Eric for those excellent questions.

If you have questions for Michael, feel free to reply directly to this email or simply leave a comment on any of our posts.

Weekly Art Recap

Grid of images corresponding to the art below — Art featured Sept 23-28

Fahrenheit 451 - cover for the Ray Bradbury classic to kick off banned book week
Window to the Sun - inspired by Oystermouth castle in Wales
Where the Evil Dwells - cover illustration for Clifford D. Simak
Arrival - an early digital experiment in the Passage to Sanctuary series
Empire of Grass - cover illustration for Tad Williams
Roland X - an iconic take on Stephen King’s gunslinger

Coming Soon…Leftovers & Palette Gremlins

The first Wednesday of the month means it’s time for a new L&PG. Same time as usual…11am EST on October 2nd. This will be the third painting in the 2024 gallery.

As always, there will be a special preview for paid subscribers leading up to that.

Laura Lasley

Sep 30, 2024

Thank you for answering my question and for the awesome model photos! I'm always curious as to how creative minds integrate and see the world; I have a few singer songwriter friends and author friends. I'm in awe of how you can leash or unleash your imagination to produce wondrous works of art. Appreciate a look behind the curtain!

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Celinda Evitt

So enjoy the added pleasure of your comments after decades of only seeing occ book covers and Whelan Walls

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September Q&A with Michael

Weekly Art Recap

Coming Soon…Leftovers & Palette Gremlins

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