As a young child, portrait painter Michele Anderson loved doing pencil portraits of people and animals. As she grew older, she experimented with pastels and watercolors, still interested in representing the human form, but also painting animals, still life and landscapes. When she enrolled in the Art Institute of Atlanta, she had not yet acknowledged the handwriting on the wall. At the Institute she chose a curriculum, not in painting but in landscape design. This endeavor taught her discipline, she says, and grounded her in the work ethic. Following graduation she started a landscape design/installation business with her husband.

Anderson was finally able to recognize that "my heart is really in portraits" and set about switching careers. In the ensuing years she has studied intensively with several notable portrait artists and has attended many workshops, learning the rudiments of portrait painting. Through years of consistent painting and study she now excels in creating portraits in oil.

Michele makes the front page...

The Royal Gazette - Bermuda - May 17,2010 - Photo by Mark Tatem