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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2017)
6 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2017 E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE C ATHERINE J. R OURKE For the Siuslaw News _____________ Whenever Michael Wood begins a painting, he always goofs off. Watching clouds, walking the dog or observing faces in a Bay Street café must precede his brush hitting the palette. “My time off is when I’m actually working,” he said. “I paint life every day by watching. With each new painting, I feel like I have just begun to see for the first time.” That’s why the real painting occurs on the third day. “I have found, on the first day of painting, I will always mis- judge colors and proportions until my vision begins to clear by the third day,” Wood said. “This is the challenge and fun that gets me into the studio every single day of the year until the sun goes down.” Nationally recognized for his landscape, portrait and wildlife scenes, the award-winning painter defers his skill to a high- er source. “God is the master artist; I am merely an apprentice,” he said. “All subjects inspire me, from the majestic to the common- place: the high mountaintop to pebbles in a stream and every- thing in between. A dead leaf is just as intriguing as a giant tree.” Wood’s Impressionist paint- ings mirror that fascination in characteristic surreal style: a beacon from Heceta Light Station piercing the darkness, moonlight reflecting on a pond and seascapes at twilight. At the same time, his images appear startlingly real in their cameos of ordinary life: a cat sit- ting in the window, a woman gazing out to sea, the wind rustling leaves, the baristas and bartenders of Bay Street. “Everything intrigues me… the sky after a storm, people’s quiet moments,” he said. “I observe something, then turn my head and paint it from memory. “That’s Impressionism.” Wood’s art captures that fleet- ing moment of the dream state, transforming everyday sights into splendor and the mundane into the mystical. A brandy snifter gracing a bar top or a waitress mulling over the morn- ing paper suddenly appear enchanting. One brush stroke reflects a magnificent ray of light on a seaside cliff while another renders a boat into a breathtaking sight. “I’ve been drawing since I was a kid,” he said. “Years of trial and error, observation and hard work taught me how to paint.” Born in San Francisco and raised in Europe until age 12, Wood moved frequently as the son of an Air Force officer. While stationed with his family in Ardente, France, Wood became enthralled with the pic- turesque landscape and a paint- ing that evoked its magic. “It was everything I experi- enced condensed into a frame,” he said. “The realization that everything was a potential paint- ing propelled me into the world of art.” Wood continued to paint after the family moved to Albuquerque and Kansas. Majoring in art at San Jose State University, he presented his first show and sold a painting. “I just needed to paint,” he said. “I wanted to learn art on an experiential level from painters I admired, not teachers in a class- room.” The cost of living in the 1960s meant Wood could rely on odd jobs to cover the $15/month rent on his basement apartment. After a show at the Triton Museum of Art, his next break came when the Palo Alto Art Club hired him as a custodian for $100/month with a rent-free garret, allowing more time to paint. Wood spent three years there participating in art shows that provided the springboard for his acclaim. “Today it’s called ‘artist in residence’ instead of ‘custodi- an,’” he said with a laugh. “I had fun but still had much to learn. DRIVER ED Fredric Michael Wood Air Magazine” competition. While his work still appears in prominent galleries, magazines and exhibitions around the coun- try, Wood now teaches Holistic Oil Painting at the Florence Regional Arts Alliance. “I have learned to trust intu- ition over intellect in art,” he said. “In Holistic Painting, I teach students to get the mind out of the way and paint what they feel and allow their hearts to see.” What’s next for Wood? “I want my painting to sup- port good causes like animal welfare,” he said. “I also hope that my work will mimic nature's fluid poetic language. Art is always a work in progress so that the next painting will surpass the last.” Woods’ art reminds us that, despite the mediocrity and ugli- ness of life, it's still a beautiful world. Like a poem or a song, one painting can lift the corners of a mouth, light a candle in a heart, evoke a gasp of wonder or shed a tear, helping us to find the sublime in the mundane. “The final touch in a painting is the most difficult one because there are often so many of them,” he said. “Sometimes I call it ‘PAIN-ting.’ The creation of art is a process which lends pride to humility and humili ates pride.” View his paintings at www. fmichaelwood.com/works or at the Vardanian Gallery on Bay Street. PHOTO BY CATHERINE ROURKE Award-winning Impressionist artist Michael Wood, seen here in his self-portrait, teaches “Holistic Oil Painting” at the Florence Regional Arts Alliance. [Courtesy image] Painting can get lost in the details. A painter must learn to edit just like a writer, to get to the point.” Wood’s persistence paid off. After building a reputation through national exhibitions, he won a “Top 100 Award of Merit” at the Arts for the Parks Foundation annual show. Next, the prestigious Christopher Queen Galleries in California showcased his wildlife paint- ings, catapulting Wood into a successful career. Drawn to the art community of Taos, N.M., Wood integrated the “Land of Enchantment” into his painting. “Southwest Art Magazine” selected his work to grace the cover of its 30th anniversary issue in 2002. But, after two years, he missed one of his favorite subjects: the ocean. In 2004, Wood discovered Florence and decided to make it home. “I love this city’s artistic and environmental aspects and the friendly community,” he said. “Florence has influenced my work, with its juxtaposition of light and dark and ocean land- scapes.” Last year Wood received “Best in Oil Overall” in a “Plein RESERVE A Night of Romance Valentine’s Day Decadent Rack of Lamb drizzled with a cherry reduction sauce. Served with quinoa mushroom pilaf. 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