Landscape Artist
OPA CAC
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Michael Hansen was born and raised in Southern California and currently resides in Simi Valley. He was first introduced to painting as a young child by an aunt who noticed his love for drawing and gave him his first set of Oil paints. At the age of 8, he began transitioning from pencil sketches to painting on anything he could find, which included plywood found in his parent's garage, to sections of cardboard he would cut out of boxes.
Sports were a huge part of Michael's life growing up and although most of his time was spent on the wrestling mat or football field, he never strayed far from his first love of art. After graduating from Royal High School in 1984, he continued to pursue his art while working full-time and raising the first 2 of his 5 children. He is primarily self-taught but has attended a few workshops over the years. "I think by not having a formal education in art, I've made myself experiment more in order to find my own solutions to technique and color, and in doing so it has helped me to create my own style and color palette." "Although being "self-taught", I look to some of my favorite artists as having a huge influence on my own art. Artists such as William Wendt, Edgar Alwin Payne, Albert Bierstadt, Clyde Aspevig, and Oleg Stavrowsky. Michael's primary subjects are western landscapes, the California coast, and anything from the California desert to the coast. "Anything that makes me stop and wish I could capture that moment in time becomes my next painting". Artist Statement: I've been extremely lucky. My wife of 23 years, Jana, has been very supportive of my art and has encouraged me to pursue it full-time. Over the years, I've looked at painting as almost purely therapeutic and found that the more I paint, the more I want to paint. Most of my work ended up on walls of people who appreciated it, and as a result, I spent a lot of time doing commissioned work. Living in California provides me with endless amounts of subjects to cover from the Sierra Nevada to the Southern and Central Coast. I hope you enjoy my art as much as I enjoy creating it! M. Stewart Hansen |
