American artist Michael Mckee has been creating and painting for over 4 decades. "I utilize dynamic, joyful color with bold strokes and shapes to define my high energy work. Soft pastels, acrylics and oils are the mediums I choose while creating landscape and abstract compositions. I approach everything I do in art as a dance of design and color, created to bring joy and happiness into peoples lives." 

A bit more about me...  Growing up outside of Cleveland Ohio in a musical family, My Mom and Dad provided 4 curious children with a strong appreciation for the joy of creative effort, and the value of art and music in the human experience. For this, and much more I will always be grateful.  A National Scholastic Art Scholarship winner, and Honors graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, I have spent most of my professional life as a portrait artist, illustrator, graphic designer, creative director and for 15 years as co-founder and creative director of Successories Inc. Having accomplished all I wanted to in the commercial art world, it was time for me to embark on a new journey... the journey of an artist whose expressions are more personal, and directed only from within.  Over the years, my wife Cassandra and I had vacationed many times in New Mexico and the southwest. During these trips, I became inspired by the range and density of color found in the texture of the high desert landscape. On one of these trips, we were standing on an overlook outside of Chimayo New Mexico, and we saw the most incredible sunset we'd ever seen. Reaching down and picking up a handful of red earth, I began rubbing it between my fingers, and felt as if I could feel the sunset in my hands. For me, it was like seeing the world through new eyes. At that moment, the earth felt like soft pastels. As soon as I got home to my studio, I ordered a set of the finest soft pastels I could find and began working furiously with the medium for almost 2 years. This solidified my feelings for the medium, and allowed me to express with color in ways I could only dream about in the past. In the last 20 years working mostly with pastel, acrylic and oils I have been enjoying success exhibiting in art festivals around the country, showing and selling my landscapes and abstract impressions direct to my collectors. This success and the face to face relationships I am able to develop with my collectors' inspires me to paint even more enthusiastically than before. My landscape and abstract impressions all come from simple memories of moments and places, and are all created with a spirit of joy.

My art business has been designated as a "Trusted Art Seller" with The Art Storefronts Organization, which means you can shop with confidence, and know that I stand behind the quality and value of my products.

In my studio

Working in acrylic on canvas, I like working flat and I tend to work all 4 sides of the composition.