Michelle Sullivan is an Australian Artist, she grew up in the Blue Mountains at Katoomba in New South Wales, Australia & has always been surrounded by the beauty of nature. She now lives completely off grid, in the far south east of NSW with her husband Mark, who is a semi-retired Builder & musician. They have 2 grown children & 5 grandchildren.
Michelle’s inspiration comes mostly from living on their 230acres of pristine Australia bush land, that is seen in her landscape paintings which are inspired mostly by the natural environment that surrounds her. The tall Mountain Grey eucalyptus trees & deep gullies of tree ferns & fish bone fern covered grounds along with pockets rainforest are often seen in her work.
In her portraits her inspiration from a very young age, was the features of the human face & contours of the body.
In her paintings she paints what she sees & tries to capture the light as it hits the subject, as she works to interpret the character of the sitter, glaze after glaze.
Michelle is mostly self taught & remembers fondly her first art tutor, at the age 14 when she worked casually waitressing to pay for each weeks lesson.
She has been studying the glazing technique used by the Old Masters but with using the modern day acrylic paints, with Matt Philleo for the last 3 years at his Realistic Acrylic Portrait School in Wisconsin USA.
Michelle also works in pencil but can’t really recall when her love for art began, it seems she has always drawn & created.
Taking up painting in the mid 90’s she moved from using oil paints as her medium & began to paint with the modern day acrylics in early 2000 & found them to be well suited for the glazing technique that she now uses in her portraits.
In Michelle’s work she strives for photo realism & tries to re-create just what she sees by interpreting the light & keeping the colours fresh, bright, clean & life like.
She can spend hours on the finer details & nuances needed to complete a piece.
In 2023 Michelle joined the Acrylic University in USA, to expand her knowledge further & continue to grow as an artist.
The inspiration of the “Dancer”series showing the flow of fabric from their gowns & forms of the body has been her focus in this last 12 months along with her commission works.
The “Shoe” series kinda began with the ballet shoe, “On Pointé” which was from the “Dancer” series & this lead to completing 7 for a “Shoe” series, from evening shoes to old worn military boots.
In 2023 Michelle began with yet another series where these were all monochromatic &included a couple fr her “Shoe” series.
In 2021 Michelle began entering a few of her pieces in some monthly International Juried online Art competitions, receiving recognition, encouragement & support along with numerous Awards to date.
Michelle’s inspiration comes mostly from living on their 230acres of pristine Australia bush land, that is seen in her landscape paintings which are inspired mostly by the natural environment that surrounds her. The tall Mountain Grey eucalyptus trees & deep gullies of tree ferns & fish bone fern covered grounds along with pockets rainforest are often seen in her work.
In her portraits her inspiration from a very young age, was the features of the human face & contours of the body.
In her paintings she paints what she sees & tries to capture the light as it hits the subject, as she works to interpret the character of the sitter, glaze after glaze.
Michelle is mostly self taught & remembers fondly her first art tutor, at the age 14 when she worked casually waitressing to pay for each weeks lesson.
She has been studying the glazing technique used by the Old Masters but with using the modern day acrylic paints, with Matt Philleo for the last 3 years at his Realistic Acrylic Portrait School in Wisconsin USA.
Michelle also works in pencil but can’t really recall when her love for art began, it seems she has always drawn & created.
Taking up painting in the mid 90’s she moved from using oil paints as her medium & began to paint with the modern day acrylics in early 2000 & found them to be well suited for the glazing technique that she now uses in her portraits.
In Michelle’s work she strives for photo realism & tries to re-create just what she sees by interpreting the light & keeping the colours fresh, bright, clean & life like.
She can spend hours on the finer details & nuances needed to complete a piece.
In 2023 Michelle joined the Acrylic University in USA, to expand her knowledge further & continue to grow as an artist.
The inspiration of the “Dancer”series showing the flow of fabric from their gowns & forms of the body has been her focus in this last 12 months along with her commission works.
The “Shoe” series kinda began with the ballet shoe, “On Pointé” which was from the “Dancer” series & this lead to completing 7 for a “Shoe” series, from evening shoes to old worn military boots.
In 2023 Michelle began with yet another series where these were all monochromatic &included a couple fr her “Shoe” series.
In 2021 Michelle began entering a few of her pieces in some monthly International Juried online Art competitions, receiving recognition, encouragement & support along with numerous Awards to date.
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View Michelle's Paintings...
