#personalvisions — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #personalvisions, aggregated by home.social.
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THE END OF NATURE (1998)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28” x 22”The first in what became a series of paintings about our relationship with nature. 1/2
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WING (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas -42" X 60"I was the Artist Guest of Honor of the Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Sydney in 1992. After the convention, my family and I spent some time traveling around the country. ¼
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EQUANIMITY (2000)
Oil on Panel - 12” x 9”As with so many others, this is a virtue I feel a lack of in my own life. The figure is meditating that equanimity is found in the contemplation of the fullness of time. 1/2
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WIDE (1992)
Oil on Canvas - 20” x 48”As with OPEN, I was working to establish the connecting points between my Passage paintings and this new series, before I went on to define the new themes in their entirety.
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PASSAGE: VERGE (1989)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" X 36"There are other, more metaphysical meanings to be derived from this painting, but at the time I was doing it I had decided to "step off the brink," professionally speaking. 1/2
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SENTINELS (1988)
Acrylic on Canvas - 22” x 33”After more than a decade of continuous illustration work, this was my first non-commissioned painting. Who can resist imagining a peaceful world where children are enjoying nature and the symbols of war are falling into ruin? 1/6
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CW: Artistic Nudity
PRUDENCE II (1997)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 12” x 13”Another take on what the ancient Greeks called "the Queen of the Virtues." The one most essential to our collective future, yet the one least evident in human affairs.
The red glass heart represents the lures of the material world, passion and the senses...which all too often drown out logical thinking and wise decisions.
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DOORWAY TO THE WEST (2006)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 9”Another search for the light. Creating the illusion of texture in paint, the process of actually painting it, can be an act of meditation. If it were not so, the painting of all those rocks would be torture, especially for someone like me with an impatient nature.
https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/doorway-to-the-west/
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LANDING (2004)
Acrylic on Panel - 30" x 24"This piece was born of a digital image from PASSAGE TO SANCTUARY, a series of three limited edition prints produced by Mithril Publishing in 1994. 1/4
#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #passagetosanctuary
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HIGHGATE MIST (2010)
Acrylic - 10” x 8”Looking for sketching subjects, I started to seek out sculptures of angels and enjoyed using them as models. 1/2
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LUMEN 6.2 (2001)
Oil on Canvas - 48” x 42”From an idea I had been carrying around in my head since the late '70s.
“Lumen” is a word with multiple meanings (light, cavity, window) and all the paintings in this series deliberately make use of them. In each one, there is a figure struggling to reach the light, seemingly trapped in a closed-in space by insurmountable obstacles.
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FREEFALL (2001)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 12”Another small reflection in the “Faded Star” series of my gallery work.
Like LEAP OF FAITH, this was a visual representation of the unease and excitement I felt at jumping into fine art painting with the barest of lifelines to sustain me.
https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/freefall/
#art #fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism#fadedstar
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OUT OF THE SHADOWS (2014)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 24”With this painting I revisit themes developed in my "Passage" series, featured heavily in my first couple of one-man shows at the Tree’s Place gallery. 1/3
#fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism #passage #fadedstar
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THE LEAVETAKING (1992)
Oil on Canvas - 18" x 48"I planned for this to be a large "preliminary" for a new work in my Passage series that I would paint in oils. 1/3
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FOOTSTEPS (2026)
Acrylic - 12” x 24”Measured in geological terms, the human epoch occupies a footnote in the deep history of time. Like the dinosaurs, will our moment here leave lasting impressions in the soil? Or will our expression of life fall silent like the flutter of butterfly wings? 1/3
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MOON’S WINDOW (2007)
Acrylic on Panel - 7” X 5”This window was suggested by shapes at the Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire England. (Nothing to do with the painting, but Whitby is where Count Dracula landed when he arrived in England...) 1/3
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RIMRUNNER (2011)
Oil - 18” x 28”A painting in The End of Nature subset of my personal work, which represents humanity as somewhat oblivious to the support that nature provides for them. 1/2
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SHARD (2002)
Acrylic - 10” x 8”While working on this small variation of EPHEMEROS, I was reminded of my youthful days in California and how I found more time for meditation back then. 1/2
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THE RED STEP (1988)
Acrylic on Canvas - 44" x 33"The initial impetus for doing the painting was being stuck in the first real artistic block I've ever had. I was probably clinically depressed. 1/4
#personalvisions #fineart #imaginativerealism #passage #depression
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MEMORY OF A DISTANT SEA (1999)
Acrylic on Canvas - 20” x 16”Whenever someone asked me what I do for myself, up until 1987 my answer was always my illustration because that’s what I chose to do. That’s all I envisioned myself doing, but something happened. 1/3
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BLUE WHALE (1999)
Acrylic - 24” x 16”The light she is hauling has a little blue whale on it as a sort of decal. 1/3
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CHAINS OF THE SEA (2018)
Acrylic on Canvas - 12" x 16"A small study for a larger planned painting that never happened. I began working on this at the same time as the cover for Words of Radiance back in 2013. 1/2
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GENTLENESS (1997)
Acrylic on Canvas - 11” x 13”Not a classical Virtue, but based on observing my young son with our aging family cat. It's how I hope we'll care for all the earth's creatures.
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THE ASTROPHYSICIST (2008)
Acrylic - 24" x 36"When I started this painting, the major theme concerned the power of the human intellect to light our way into the universe.
The balls in the picture came from a conversation I had with my son Adrian. 1/5
#fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism #neildegrassetyson
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SUNFLOWER (2010)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 18”It's her sanctuary...an echo of something I experienced when I was younger.
Anyone familiar with my work will know how much I’m drawn to concrete. Images like this pop into my head at unexpected times. I attribute them all to my early childhood experiences playing in the cement tunnels and storm drains of LA and other Southwestern places.
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THE BIG QUESTION (2007)
Acrylic on Canvas - 60” X 48”I’ve done a number of paintings that have taken symbolic cues from letter forms. EYE is one example (eye = “I”). Here the letter that sums up “the big question” is mirrored throughout the painting, including in the figure’s pose. 1/3
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FLOOD (2000)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48”Faced with the prospect of cancer surgery, I thought that while awash in pain killers I might at least experience some interesting dreams. Instead I found that the medications did exactly the opposite, completely deadening any creative sense I had. 1/4
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EBB (2000), Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48”
EBB and FLOOD were done on faith. It didn’t matter if anyone—even myself—understood what they were about, they had to be made real.
I was having a conversation about my work with Betsy Wollheim, longtime friend and smart editor/publisher. She said, “What do you mean you don’t know what they are about? It’s been obvious to me from the first time I saw them.” 1/2
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THE CROSSING (1997)
Oil on Canvas - 30” X 60”The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death. 1/2
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THE END OF NATURE VII (2005)
Acrylic on Panel - 25” x 40”Up until this point in my End of Nature series, I had portrayed the people who represent humanity in general as somewhat oblivious to the support that nature was providing for them. 1/2
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GENTLENESS (1997)
Acrylic on Canvas - 11" x 13"Not a classical Virtue, but based on observing my young son with our aging family cat. It's how I hope we'll care for all the earth's creatures.
-
THE BIG QUESTION (2007)
Acrylic on Canvas - 60" X 48"I've done a number of paintings which have taken their symbolic cues from letter forms. EYE is one example (eye = "I"). As with many of my works, this one employs light as a symbol of knowledge and affirmation. 1/3
#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #stanleykubrick
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WAVE (1994)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 48"Of all the paintings hanging in my home, this one probably elicits the most comments. It's also a good example of why I am reluctant to say too much about my work. 1/3
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THE END OF NATURE VII (2005)
Acrylic on Panel - 25" x 40"Up until this point in my End of Nature series, I had portrayed the people who represent humanity in general as somewhat oblivious to the support that nature was providing for them. 1/2
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PIPEDREAM (2008)
Acrylic - 20" x 30"Most days I take a walk in the late afternoon to clear my head and stretch my legs. Sometimes I come across trash thrown in a field or left in a parking lot and I get annoyed thinking about how thoughtless people can be. 1/5
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RETROSPECTION (2006)
Acrylic on Panel - 5" x 7"Here we see our "everywoman" seeking guidance amid the debris of lost values from an earlier age. With retrospection she will be able to find her way to the future through the gateway of the past.
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LUMEN 4 (1997)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" X 36"“Lumen” is a word with multiple meanings (light, cavity, window) and all the paintings in this series deliberately make use of them. 1/2
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CHAINS OF THE SEA (2018)
Acrylic on Canvas - 12" x 16"A small study for a larger planned painting that never happened. I began working on this at the same time as the cover for Words of Radiance back in 2013. 1/3
#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #leftoversandpalettegremlins
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PASSAGE: THE RAINBOW (1991)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 48"The surface meaning of my Passage paintings is technical—it signifies a passage from working nearly exclusively in acrylics to attaining a greater technical flexibility in oils. 1/2
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GRAVITY (2002)
Acrylic on Canvas - 35" x 43"Once when I was being sedated for surgery and I was counting backwards, “99, 98, ...” I felt this surge of irresistible calm sweep over me like a vast tide of night. While I floated away, I felt myself become totally, completely relaxed. 1/3
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PATH (2016)
Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 16"This painting featuring my granddaughter Seren was done for the inaugural Leftovers and Palette Gremlins gallery. Every week I set out to complete a small piece inspired by paint marks or other found patterns. 1/3
#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #leftoversandpalettegremlins
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RIMRUNNER (2011)
Oil - 18” x 28”A painting in The End of Nature subset of my personal work, which represents humanity as somewhat oblivious to the support that nature provides for them. 1/2
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ISLAND (2007)
Acrylic on Panel - 30" x 40"Only by cutting our ties to our “island” can we discover what lies beyond. 1/2
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PRUDENCE (1996)
Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 11"The classical notion of Prudence is an important theme to me, as it was to the ancient Greeks. 1/2
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SUNFLOWER (2010)
Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 18"It's her sanctuary...an echo of something I experienced when I was younger.
Anyone familiar with my work will know how much I’m drawn to concrete. Images like this pop into my head at unexpected times. 1/2
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THE END OF NATURE (1998)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28" x 22"The first in what became a series of paintings about our relationship with nature. 1/2
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THE REACH (1999)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 30"Almost a Lumen painting, in which figures are trying to work their way out of enclosed spaces and get into the light. 1/2
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UNWINDING (2021)
Acrylic on Gessobord - 10" x 11 ½”The paintings in The End of Nature series are concerned with our relationship to the environment and how we need to care for it. Here, the young boy takes a moment to just enjoy it. 1/3
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THE DIVINING HEART (2005)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 24""Stepping stones" of ammonite fossils represent the lessons of history and are the only havens of safety for the figure in the foreground. 1/2
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GLIMPSE (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 36"I think this is the first time I used the red glass heart as a symbol for the immediate and/or material possessions. 1/2
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EDGEDANCER (2002)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28" x 22"A cautionary, “All good things come to an end...”
While she dances away her day, the ground which supports her erodes into nothingness.
https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/edgedancer/
#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #theendofnature
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THE CROSSING (1997)
Oil on Canvas - 30" X 60"The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death.
All of my Passage works use the dream-object of the lighted bubbles—symbols of spirit or unfettered consciousness—to convey the idea of movement from one state of mind to another, a transition to a more open and lighted place; a release.
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THE LEAVETAKING (1992)
Oil on Canvas - 18" x 48"I planned for this to be a large "preliminary" for a new work in his Passage series that I would paint in oils. 1/3
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FLOWERS AND WEEDS (1997)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 48"When my son Adrian was 3 or 4 years old, we used to go to an abandoned construction site where there were huge slabs of concrete embedded with iron reinforcing rods. 1/4
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CW: Artistic nudity
CAUSEWAY (1992)
Oil on Canvas - 48" X 36"The colors came from a foggy morning walk at a reservoir near my home.
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ASYLUM (2001)
Acrylic On Panel - 22" x 28"Another double entendre title—for "asylum" can infer both confinement and security. But is she really attaining both?
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THE MAD POET (1982)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 12 ½" x 17 ½"Since its inclusion in the back matter of THE ART OF MICHAEL WHELAN, this small painting has elicited a strong response from fans. 1/2
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LUMEN 6 (1999)
Acrylic on Panel - 32" x 32"Looking for the way to the light, a moment of discovery at last. 1/2
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EMPIRE OF DREAMS (2005)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28" x 22"A world of concrete works in disarray, thrown about by some unknown cataclysm. 1/3
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CW: Artistic nudity
KAIROS (2007)
Acrylic - 24" x 36"I didn't want to just call this PRUDENCE 3, so I looked all over for a word that captured the idea of the painting and KAIROS is the only one that fit.