Michael Muldoon
"I am an interpretive oil painter. I love color so I strive to use it to represent the many dimensions of shadow, light and shapes. Painting with both a brush and a knife, I’ll try to create a canvas covered in bold, yet thoughtful color and texture."
My artistic journey followed a few years of teaching, coaching, West Point Military Academy, and then 30 years in sales and marketing with a major car company. I loved my job, but I love retirement even more, especially the time it gives me with family, friends, travel, and of course oil painting.
My art is an interpretation. At my age, as a proud grandpa, retired from a career which carried our family across the country a few times, as well as travels throughout Europe, I have appreciated, collected, and studied other artists and the way they interpret what they see. Especially, the works of Wallis, Berberian, Falke, and the amazing color they’ve found in the shadows! The way I paint, is the way I see it!
You’ll see form. You’ll see color. Hopefully you’ll appreciate the canvas and the way certain blended paint on a flat surface can create a unique beauty.
I have studied at the Scottsdale Art School, and also with my mother, Betty Brower, who’s been an accomplished artist in both oils and watercolor for over 50 years. I continue to paint with her during the summer months on the coast of Oregon, and look for workshops throughout the NW as well as the SW to grow and mature with my oils.
I’m proud to say, that with my good friend and photographer, Arlen Sieve we started the Fountain Hills Artist’s Gallery in Fountain Hills, AZ in 2008, where with 40 other artists I served as President its first year. At the time, it was the only co-op “fine art” gallery in Arizona where artists paid no commission on sales and its success continues, five years later! As of this (6/2013) they have opened a second one patterned after our model, on Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ; I’m very proud of their success!
My first picture that was really sold to a collector, “Beach Bouquet”, was a 24 x 36 oil on canvas. See it at right.
I was painting downtown Cannon Beach, OR, n front of Sheri’s Café, in 2007, during “Stormy Weather Festival”, and the weather was beautiful for a November week-end; a young man and woman walked past where I was painting, stopped and talked, they fell in love with the scene.
I was told that the next summer, they would be wed here in Cannon Beach, and they wanted their celebration to “look” as beautiful as my picture! The man came back and said, “I have to have that picture!”…Since then, to their family, I have painted 5 commissioned pieces; 3 for their wedding party, 1 each of their two precious daughters as newborns…
Education, Studies, and Awards
**Summer 2006, study with Betty Brower, Cannon Beach, OR
**Spring 2007, study with Jane Wingfield, “Oil Composition and Color”, Scottsdale Artist School(SAS), Scottsdale, AZ
**Summer 2008, Founded “Fountain Hills Artist’s Gallery”, Fountain Hills, AZ…first, truly “co-op” art gallery in AZ taking NO commission from artists. (still operating as of June, 2013 !! )
**Spring 2009, studies with Joni Falk, “Still Life”, SAS, Scottsdale, AZ
**Summer 2008,First Place Award, Oil Category, “A Dory Day at Twin Rocks”, 59th Annual Judged Comp0sition, Trailsend Art Association, Gearhart, OR.
**Fall 2010, Studies, Nancy Seamon-Crookston, “Color and the Figure”, SAS, Scottdale, AZ.
**Winter 2011, First Place Award, Oil Category, “Teacup & Daisies”, Fountain Hills Juried Art Show
Currently I display at fairweather house & gallery, Seaside, Oregon, and submit art to various shows and art fairs throughout the year.
"This image is one of Neal Maine's countless photos dedicated to raising awareness of coastal ecology and wildlife. I'm very grateful for his permission to render his photo of these majestic elk on a soft beach morning, which I've titled:"Morning Jog, Father & Son" in this oil painting. Not only is he fantastic in his passion for nature photography, he was my high school football coach, so to connect with Neal in this way after almost 50 years, for me, sincerely, is priceless." Title: Morning Jog Father and Son
