Original Oil Paintings by MJ Nickle

Michael J. Nickle was born in Murray, Utah in the early spring of 1970. He was raised in northern Utah in a beautiful area known as Cache Valley. All his life he has been known to think differently than those around him. Some have called him a dreamer, others a gifted and brilliant artist. Even a collector once commented, “God has kissed you with talent.”

Michael is quickly becoming an internationally recognized artist. His paintings are included in private collections from Canada to South America and Europe to the Far East. He has exhibited his work throughout the western United States, and in Illinois. Michael is currently represented online and in a number of galleries close to his studio, currently located in scenic northern Utah.

Michael is primarily a self-taught, do it my way sort of artist. He has drawn ever since his early childhood. His first inspiration and love for art, along with a realization of destiny came early in his life. In the summer just before beginning the fourth grade, he took a short art class. That art class opened a whole new world for him. He began to understand that it was all right to see things differently than others did. More importantly, he understood why. Michael continued his studies throughout middle and high school focusing his efforts in the visual arts. His last year in middle school, Michael was recognized for the yearbook cover design in '83-'84. He was accepted into AP Art both his Junior and Senior years in high school, where his work was published in a number of school publications. In the years after graduation, Michael relocated to the Pacific Northwest and took a job as a custom picture framer. It was working in this industry that kindled the idea to do art full-time. He began drawing again and to his surprise found people excited about his work. He exhibited and sold his paintings for the first time on a professional level in April of 1995. Later that same year he returned to northern Utah to be closer to his young children. Michael accepted a number of portrait commissions and in so doing discovered something within him- a drive to capture and portray the essence of individuals and places with life-like accuracy and feeling. The mood that each piece is intended to communicate is of paramount importance from conception to completion in his artistic process. Michael is passionate about communicating the beauty of all creation through his work. With this thought in mind, what could possibly be more beautiful than the female form and our great Mother Earth? He considers painting not unlike worship, and his talent not only a gift, but also a tool, so that hopefully others may become enlightened and be given peace through his unique vision. This was especially evident in the works Michael chose to exhibit for his first one-man show entitled "Painting By Heart." His paintings continue to grow and to expand on this perception as does the awareness and the popularity of his work with the public, now on an ever-expanding international level.

Michael believes that ongoing and continuing art education will not only make him a better artist, but a better person. After discovering a healthy interest in his work in 1995, and wanting to be the best artist he could possibly become, he decided that it was time to return to school. First, he attended Utah College of Massage Therapy in 1999 to master the anatomy of human muscle structure. Second, he studied with nationally and internationally recognized, practicing artists. During the summer of 2001, he completed an intensive three-month apprenticeship with landscape and figure painter Eric Wallis. Michael has also enjoyed the privilege of studying with such gifted talents as portrait artists Del Parson and Steve Childs, landscape artist Robert Moore, and sculptor Jason Millward. As with most artists, he continues to work and experiment with a variety of medium. His favorites are oils and charcoal, with an occasional venture into pastel or sculpting in clay. Michael has also followed in the ages old artist tradition of giving back what has been given, and is teaching privately in his studio. He also offers various artist workshops during the Summer and Autumn months.

" I want to bring the viewer into my work, like they are really part of the painting. I want them to feel what I'm trying to express within themselves. The emotion in which each piece is conceived and created is essential to what I intend to communicate. If only one person is touched, then I have been successful in my efforts."

-Michael J. Nickle