“Michael Orwick at his best melds pictorial storytelling with a hauntingly familiar world.  He creates compelling views of our world that move beyond time and place – full environments for your mind to explore, your senses to imagine…”

-Mari Rockett - Curator, DragonFire Gallery

Growing up in the Oregon Cascades and the Willamette Valley, nature and the rich landscape have had a profound impact on Michael. He has always been awed by the extraordinary ability of landscapes to tell stories, just as art does.

Michael’s career in art started in animation (Will Vinton Studios) and moved quickly into illustration, where he enjoyed bringing the ideas of others to life.

Today Michael is creating what he calls “Inspired Expressionism,” painting his own ideas on canvas and inviting you to provide the narrative. 

Michael offers hints of the mood through atmosphere and serene colors, suggesting a place and a time of day.  It is what he leaves untold that grabs you, though. He shares his enigmatic vision and invites you to imagine your own story.  And often you can’t help the feeling that you have ‘seen this place,’ as if through a car window or in passing to somewhere else…

Orwick’s paintings grant you the rare chance to go back and explore a special place that fuels the imagination.

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.  -Magritte

Artist Statement

There is a reason we are drawn toward beauty, it is the language of God and nature. To me there is nothing more provocative than beauty, it inspires deep reflection and motivates me to create.

I mix from a primary color palette, painting wet into wet and with layers, to both reveal and hide what lies behind; in this way I entice you into the painting.  I love it when people share the feeling and stories my paintings evoked.

It is my sincere wish that you will want to revisit these beautiful locations and painterly stories again and again.