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Mike Dwaileebe
Artist Statement for the 1st Annual Invitational
Square i Gallery July 21 - Sept 5, 2007

The paintings in this show were selected from a group painted off country roads in Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties in Spring 2007. Most of them are centered around a bridge on Algerine Road in Tuolumne County.
This spot is truly magical in spring. There is bridge itself and a paintable scene in every direction.
I paint in early morning when it is cool and there are strong shadows. While these paintings were made on site, they are finished and sometimes overhauled in my workshop.
For me the work is painting on site, and the fun is when I can relax and let my imagination run amok. That is in the workshop. I am restrained by the notion that I want these scenes to be easily recognizable, in spite of any license I have taken.
I hope these paintings show you a place where you would love to have a picnic, kick back and enjoy what nature has to give.

Artist Bio
I became interested in art in my mid thirties. I had the good fortune to study color and design with Aileen Worthley, a retired teacher artist. She interested me in screen-printing and in time introduced me to Guy Maccoy, one of the founders of the art form. I studied screen-printing and design with Guy at his studio and was allowed to monitor his classes at the Los Angeles County Institute of Art.
My work has shown in print galleries in Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, and the Newport Beach area. Fidelity Arts in Los Angeles published editions of prints relating to southwestern deserts, but I soon found that I could not make a living in art.
I returned to my family trade of painting houses and began to slowly go nuts!
Fortunately, I discovered Decorative Painting and took all available training at the Day Studio Workshop in San Francisco. I was thus enabled to have a very satisfying career painting wonderful things in people's homes including; murals, trompe L'oeil, wall treatments, metal leafing, one-of-a-kind furniture and cabinet finishes. I retired at the age of 65.
I became involved with The Central Sierra Arts Council in Sonora, California and began to paint in oils. My work was shown in The George W. Post Gallery and is currently seen at the Ventana Gallery in Sonora.
I met Jeanette Le Grue and through her workshops became interested in Plein-Air painting and the rest, as they say, lies in the future.