Michael (M.J.) Deas Biography Continued:

     ...Michael J. Deas showed a talent for painting at an early age. He began to work with oils in high school and grew more confident in the medium when he began to study painting at Pratt Institute in New York City. While a student at Pratt, Deas began receiving commissions to illustrate children's books. His reputation as an artist grew tremendously when he won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators in 1990. His work has been exhibited a number of times at The Original Art Show in New York, which features the best of children's book art for the year, and at the Art Directors' Club in New York City. Many of the pieces he paints are so finely rendered and beautifully textured that they are sold as original fine art pieces to private collectors, even though Deas has made little concerted effort, up until now, to promote his work in this way.

     Deas makes sketches of any scene that catches his eye, and files these away for future use. Some scenes are kept in mind for years before he finds an opportunity to use them. A painting typically takes him from 100 to 200 hours to complete and he often paints late into the night. Deas works in a classical Old Masters technique which involves a considerable amount of underpainting and glazing. He works on wood panels in the same tradition as the Flemish painters from the Northern Renaissance because it allows him to add much more detail than he would be able to with working on canvas. His greatest influences are Vermeer and the 19th century academic painters. "I get a great deal of pleasure in observing things and then rendering them as truthfully as possible. I try to allow my subject matter to speak for itself," says the artist.

     He calls his approach to composition and color classical rather than "super-realistic" or "photorealistic," the adjectives that first time viewers often choose. Deas paints from a combination of life and photos using professional models as well as friends and acquaintances.

     The artist spends half the year in New Orleans and half in New York City, and paints in a studio in his home.

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