Tribute to San Diego Padre, Tony Gwynn Painting

Michael Rosenblatt’s decades long pursuit as an artist, transitioning smoothly between abstract and figurative work, is evident when viewing his hundreds of canvasses scattered around his San Diego, California studio. Many of his bold paintings in primary and secondary colors appear abstract at first. But look at them for several moments and whimsical shapes of stars, rainbows, fish and dragons become apparent. Michael paints prolifically, day and night, covering his studio walls and floor with the oil and acrylic paint that he splashes freely onto his canvasses. “I work intuitively,” he says, ”developing my own style and system. Creativity flows through me resulting in the shapes and symbols appearing on my paintings.” Michael’s first artistic medium was magic markers. He experimented with these at age eight and used them throughout his teenage years. He liked the simplicity of the markers, the spontaneity they afforded in putting his thoughts and feelings onto paper, the ability to work with these tools instinctively, and to express himself in an inspirational manner. He also liked the markers’ very bright colors, explaining, “Colors move me the way music moves others.” Today, Michael works spontaneously, putting his thoughts and feelings onto paper and canvas quickly, expressing himself in a stream of consciousness manner, particularly in abstract art paintings. He often sketches with pencils to get his thoughts down. Then with great concentration and attention to detail, he applies oils and acrylics to complete the works. He often puts acrylic onto the canvas first as a foundation, and then adds oil for “luminosity and vibration,” as he explains. Michael Rosenblatt’s canvases range from abstract works to landscapes, to still lifes to depictions of animals, and occasionally to large murals, created with pencils, acrylics and oils. He paints 10 to 12 major canvasses and dozens of smaller works and sketches each year.