Michael Heath
Michael Heath
Untitled, watercolor on paper 2014
Private Collection
Michael Heath is a practicing professional watercolor master and instructor working in Bellingham, Washington and the North Cascades. He was born in 1951 in Columbus, Ohio and grew up on a farm where as a young boy he enjoyed roaming over hundreds of acres of adjacent fields and forests. This early freedom became a way of life that solidified into an intense love of the outdoors, which quickly became both subject and studio for him. He is drawn to its shifting light, complex combinations of contours, varied textures, and the people moving through it. He paints out of a pressing personal need to be immersed in the landscape, to experience first-hand the way light flows across open spaces illuminating the fleeting facets of forms. He concentrates on acutely observing this sense of natural light and passing time to depict in his work. He believes that the camera is limiting, only capturing fragments of this effect, and so relies solely on working from life. In his paintings he is interested in portraying areas and people as both individual and universal, but in so doing attempts not to create an idealized version of his subject, but instead to simply translate his reactions to what he sees, feels, and senses at that moment in time.
Michael holding a sheet of color studies.
Watching Michael paint is a mesmerizing and awe-inspiring experience. He paints with the ease and masterful fluidity that can only develop over decades of daily practice. His exquisite use of color and depth of understanding of the medium result in breath-taking paintings that seem to sing.
Michael is a Vietnam Veteran, a father, grandfather, and friend to many. He is also an eccentric personality and confirmed Luddite who can be reached only by phone or mail as he prefers more direct and personal communication with clients, patrons, and students. He can most often be found with paintbrush in hand along the Salish Coast or the banks of the Nooksack River.
Contact: Michael Heath 360.224.9054
(If you give him a call, tell him that Barnacle Bill sent you.)
Michael out in the field with a freshly completed painting.
Michael HeathMt. Shucksan, watercolor on paper, 2005
Michael Heath
Untitled, watercolor on paper 2010
Private Collection
Michael HeathUntitled, watercolor on paper 2014
Private Collection
Michael Heath
Untitled, watercolor on paper 2012
Private Collection