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Michele-lee, as a self-taught artist, how did you go about developing your talent?

There were three very important elements responsible for my becoming a happy and confident artist. Constant work usually follows if you display confidence in yourself and your work.

1. I made books my best friends. I have surrounded myself with ‘how-to’ books on traditional art techniques and I have taken what I need from each.

2. With that knowledge, I haunted the galleries of all of my favorite artists, looking and dissecting their paintings in order to get a better idea of how they were created. Critical dissection of other artist’s work can give you great insight into how the different techniques learned in the how-to books work.

3. The final element is a blend of insight, dedication, time and experimentation. I trusted in myself and after looking at the style of other artists, I stepped back and developed my own unique style. Dedication, time and experimentation were needed in order to develop that style. I have spent time practicing and experimenting on an almost daily basis, and without it my progress would have been far slower. Even now I still consider myself a novice with many more years of learning ahead of me, but I am also wise enough to recognize that I have come a very long way in the last seven years.

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As a teenager you were discouraged from pursuing a career in art. Why?

I will endeavor to answer your questions by asking the questions I was asked whenever I voiced the idea of becoming an artist.

Why do you want to be an artist? Do you want to be poor? Most artists are poorly paid. We are specialists at our craft, yet we are often expected to work for lower than sweatshop wages. Most artists earn less than a few thousand dollars a year, so a career in art is often seen as something only a fool would pursue. Many of my friends laughed at the idea of my being an artist because I would most likely be forever destined to be poor and destitute. They wondered why would I possibly choose this kind of life for myself?

Do you want to have your work laughed at? Ridiculed? Do you want to have something that is intensely personal to you placed in the public spotlight to be dissected and criticized? As artists, our work is often placed in the public arena where it can be received with delight and interest, or ridicule and scorn, or worse yet … it can be ignored or received with bland disinterest. It takes a very brave and strong person to be able to place something as personal as an artwork in the public arena.  Those around me wondered and questioned whether I would be emotionally strong enough to handle comments and criticism.

And they were right to ask those questions and wonder, because when I was a teenager I was not strong enough. After having my work criticized by teachers, and often ignored by family and friends, I allowed myself to believe that I was not good enough. I stopped painting, and did not think about a career in art again until I was thirty, and even then, I did not become a professional artist until I was 33 years old.

What occurred that brought you back into the world of art?

I healed, and I rebelled.

After years of depression, which I believe was caused by the repression of my creativity; I was introduced to art as a form of therapy by my family doctor. I began to paint again, and with every brushstroke I grew stronger. I began to remember the dreams I had as a child and the vow I had made to one day see my art on the pages of books and on the walls of other people’s homes.

The only way I could do this was to rebel. I turned my back on everyone’s doubts and questions, I quashed my own doubts and fears, and I painted.

How is it that you have such an affinity with faeries?

When I was a child, long before I was given access to many of the books I have read, I dreamed of flying to distant shores on the back of a dragon. I played among the ruins of ancient civilizations and those I played with were of the fae realm.

Those fae beings of my dreams took the form of dragonflies and wild cats, the breeze on the wind, or the sunlight dancing upon the water in my waking hours. They became the elements around me – the wind, the water, the fire, and the earth – and as an artist I now give them face and form.

What is your attraction to fantasy art?

If you will allow me, I would like to quote what I have written on my website in response to the question of why I paint fantasy.

I have always loved the idea that we cannot see everything and that there are different planes of existence and reality. Fantasy allows me to peer into those hidden worlds and bring them to life within the hearts and minds of others. This I believe to be a very important key to healthy emotional and psychological development. To imagine is to create, and to create is why we exist. For me personally, to paint something from one's imagination is both challenging and stimulating and to make a creature or character real for another is an experience worth repeating.

Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you?

Beauty inspires me. Nature inspires me. If I can create something that is a blending of beauty and nature then I am fulfilled.

But as for where my ideas come from … that is a harder question to answer. Sometime they come from nothing, suddenly appearing fully formed in my mind as if someone had switched on a light bulb. Other times they will come to me in dreams, only partially formed and elusive. I will then sit for hours, trying to again see what I saw. Sometimes the idea will come back to me, while other times the concept will evolve and change as I put pencil to paper.

What has been your greatest encouragement?

My greatest encouragement and strength has been the love and support of my friends, my family, and most importantly, my partner. Without his strength and his quiet support I would have given in to despair on more than one occasion.

Who have been your mentors or most influential people in helping you develop your talent?

While his style is vastly different to mine, Thomas Canty’s work has always been one of the biggest influences on me artistically, but I have always worshiped from afar as I am a very shy person. Those who have helped me to refine and develop in the past and in the future are those brave enough to give me their honest opinions and feedback. 

What have been some of your most rewarding moments as an artist?

I am still new enough at this to be able to say that the most rewarding moments so far in my career have been the sale of my first original artwork, my first ever book cover hire, and the photographs and delight I am blessed to be given in return when clients receive my artworks into their care. There is nothing quite so rewarding as seeing the smile on the face of someone who has asked me to create their visions and the knowledge that I have been successful in doing so.

You have two websites, what is the difference between the two?

I have two, soon to be three, websites as you have mentioned. ‘Art of the Empath’ is my commercial portfolio and showcases a selection of commercial illustrations from books and personal commissions. I love every one of them, but they are what others have hired me to paint. ‘Art of Faery’ and ‘Dreams of Gaia’ (which will be online soon, I hope) showcase the works I have painted for me. The former is filled with more mainstream fairy and fantasy works, while the latter will showcase my more spiritual and esoteric works.

What are your future goals? Where do you see yourself going with your art?

I have big goals, and big dreams. I one day hope to be able to walk into bookstores and find my artwork on the cover, and inside of at least several books in the fantasy and children’s book departments, and in turn I one day hope to be able to write and illustrate my own books and see them alongside those covers I have painted for others.

To view more of Michele-lee's fantastic artwork, please visit her websites: http://www.artoftheempath.com, http://www.artoffaery.com  and coming soon... http://www.dreamsofgaia.com .

All works are copyright.  Permission to use these images in any way must be obtained from the artist.