Growing up in the Oregon Cascades and the Willamette Valley, nature and landscape have had a profound impact on Michael Orwick. He has always been inspired by the ability of landscapes to tell stories.

Having difficulty in school because of his dyslexia, Michael turned to pictures to make the written word understandable and to help him communicate with others. He eventually majored in illustration at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, where he discovered that oil painting and the method of working from dark to light “worked with my backwards brain.”

Michael’s career in art started in animation at Will Vinton Studios and moved quickly into illustration, where he enjoyed bringing the ideas of others to life. As is true for many creative people, Michael was drawn to develop his own signature style of “Inspired Expressionism,” painting his ideas on canvas and inviting the viewer to provide the narrative.

Michael is equally talented in both illustrative and landscape work. He is a master of creating mood through atmosphere and color, utilizing space, a sense of place, and time of day to convey his vision. His work hints at a story and it is what he leaves untold that engages the viewer in the creative process of storytelling.