Michael Godfrey is a representational landscape artist whose work hangs in many private and corporate collections. Born in Germany in l958 and raised in North Carolina, he earned a BA in Fine Arts and began his painting career in oils and watercolors. He spends hours field sketching and photographing, preparing for a well thought out painting.
Typically, Michael starts a major work using small oil studies done on location. These field studies provide color accuracy and photographs provide special details. Godfrey composes his paintings from on-site sketches in the field and photography references. In-studio, work progresses in successive layers of paint and light is orchestrated to create a painting that appeals to his internal sense of order.
"A landscape artist has to have some knowledge of many disciplines (geology, chemistry, physics, architecture), to understand the world in which they are trying to create. An artist must observe with the idea that what is observed must be interpreted and distilled. For a landscape artist, it is just as important what you do not include in a work as what is eventually laid down. I ask myself, what is the dominant truth - is it color, shape of landforms, or time of day? I try to get an understanding of what I am seeing so that the final work will capture the visual emotion."
Books: Art from the Parks - Rachel Rubin Wolf; From Sea to Shining Sea
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Please Note: All painting images on this website are copyrighted. Any reproduction is prohibited without the express permission of the artist.
