American history is full of examples of artists who were illustrators and became recognized fine artists—Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer come to mind—but I didn’t know whether I’d be able to pull off that transition. It doesn’t happen so much in modern time, especially when the illustrator has been doing something that is looked down upon such as fantasy and science fiction work.
It was only by chance that I found Tree’s Place Gallery otherwise I don’t know what would have happened. I’d been showing my work in galleries with mixed success and the people who bought my work seemed to be fairly ardent and loyal supporters, but you need a certain amount of those to actually make a living at it, so I had no assurance whatsoever that I was going to be able to successfully pull it off.
Additional images from WINGING IT
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I get a real shamanic vibe from the figure. Less like he is leaping into the unknown than as if using all of his ritual tools he harnessed his power and flew away. In retrospect maybe that feels more like what Michael did, tough I doubt it felt that way at the time!
Glad to know you landed on your feet.