"Locomotive Drive Wheel" Drawing

Mike's Bio

I was born in 1957 in North Eastern Pa, in Scranton. I was the first of nine children.

From an early age I was attracted to painting and drawing. Some of my earliest memories were of finger painting and wanting to help paint when my uncle and his cousin were painting the house where we lived in. I was four. Finally, someone let me try painting a small section of the back porch floor. As I remember it didn't go to well. But, over the years, things improved.

As I moved into middle childhood I was always drawing. I started copying simple cartoons and eventually graduated to more complex ones. As time went on, I drew whatever I found interesting: birds, fish, animals, scenery and aircraft. As I progressed my folks encouraged me with private lessons and as a teenager, they let me paint my bedroom with murals.

I eventually found my way to college after a tour in the US Coast Guard. I attended Marywood College, later University, for most of the 80's. I started in Art Education. Part of the curricular for that course was ceramics. What a discovery. I was infected. I couldn't get enough of it. Eventually I changed my major to ceramics and sculpture, receiving a BFA in 86 and an MFA in 89. During these years I also continued painting and drawing under several outstanding professors.

After college, as life was unfolding, I kept up the practice and study of the clay arts in my spare time. For a short time, I had a small studio and gallery. They didn't do very well and I eventually lost them. Now without a place to create ceramic sculpture I went back to drawing and painting.

I had tried a drawing or two with colored pencils during the clay times. The technique seemed to develop rather easily. After the loss of the gallery and studio I started drawing with them in earnest. This media and I meshed perfectly. For years I had been taking photos of things I thought were interesting that I could someday turn into works of art. That is where the subject matter for my drawings come from. While my work might be considered photographic realism, I call it really real realism. I also like to loosen up a bit and create works that are considered abstract.

So, this is where I am now, drawing and creating the occasional painting.