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
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