art on canvas

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I feel fortunate that in my lifetime many gifts have come my way for which I am grateful, but none more than an early instinct to create art. This longing has inspired and guided me since I was young boy growing up in Minnesota. At the age of 12 I enrolled in "The Art Instruction School" a correspondence art program which opened my eyes to the various disciplines that art had to offer. I then followed this with two years at a Technical College in Minneapolis studying commercial art while in the evenings, benefiting from the open life drawing sessions held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It was here that I became enamored with the complexity of figure drawing. 

I later enrolled in the American Academy of Art in Chicago and entered the fine art department, concentrating the next three years on figure drawing and painting both oil and watercolor.  Following my studies at the Academy I painted at Chicago's storied "Palette and Chisel Club of Fine Art" where I continued working with the live model as well as obtaining a studio in which paint from.  As I continued to follow a path that was leading me towards the fine arts I felt I needed to continue my training. This desire led me to the studio doorstep of Richard Lack and Atelier Lack, a lineage of training that passes through the reputable Boston School of Painters and traces back through  the 17th century French Ateliers. His four-year program began and ended as an earnest and intense study working directly from life, which shaped my vision while instilling discipline utilizing the techniques from the masters that came before us. This training became the cornerstone to guide me on my journey as a fine artist.  

https://www.jimostlund.com

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Michele Mitchell's classical background is immediately evident in her Old Masters' palette, scrupulous brushwork, and in the compositional integrity of her portraits, still lifes and figurative paintings. Mitchell initially attended the University of Illinois only to realize the study of nature was not offered; nor the study of realism accessible.

Following her University experience, Mitchell embarked on a journey to articulate the depth and knowledge she saw present in the world around and within her. She trained at the American Academy of Art, then on to the Palette and Chisel Academy in Chicago where she learned of the famed Atelier Lack. Mitchell was extended an opportunity to apprentice with Richard Lack and receive "the tradition" through the Masters' eyes. The four-year apprentice program culminated with Lack saying, "Her portraits were among the best ever produced over my long career as a teacher at the Atelier Lack."

Expanding her powers in the art of seeing, Mitchell was able to exhibit the highest level of craftsmanship. Her Atelier Lack experience strengthened her picturemaking capabilities and deepened her grasp of the rich traditions of the Old Masters. Her work serves as a direct link to the great classical painters predating the 17th century, the French Academic and the Impressionists.

She embarked upon extensive studies in Europe, scrutinizing the Renaissance Masterpieces at such renowned museums as the Ufizzi in Florence, the Louvre in Paris and the Tate in London. She later returned to Florence where she painted for two years, studying the Masters at the Palazzo Pitti and other museums and churches. The traditions she studied and taught are something that transcend time, being held by individuals along the way who aspire to articulate 'love and life' in its purest form.

Mitchell's artistic passion is color, and she commands her palette with proficiency that unmistakably links her to Titian, Vermeer and Rembrandt. Through trained observation and creative vision, Mitchell fuses Impressionism and Realism into a unified language of the eye.

Mitchell's' paintings are held in private, public and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and in Europe. She has exhibited in the U.S. Capitol, the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, the Grand Central Gallery in New York, Hollis Taggart Gallery in Washington D.C. and New York, and the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, to name a few.

Several Best of Show awards have come to Mitchell from the International Portrait Seminar to the American Society of Portrait Artists "Portraits Only" International Competition. Her works, at once provocative and serene, dramatic yet restrained, are eloquent symbols of her depth as an artist.

Mitchell now resides in Asheville with her family and continues to explore the ever evolving world around her through perceptions articulated on canvas.

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