A native Southern Californian, Michael has spent many years hiking through the Mojave Desert, learning about the quiet beauty that each season brings. From its extremely cold winters to the devastating heat of summer, he has learned to love the vastness and subtle changes that make this wilderness so special.

The fields of tiny flowers in spring that make up the blankets of color and the subtle changes in the rocks that make the hills in the high desert presents a difficult challenge to capture artistically. These areas are filled with wild life including some unpleasant characters along with the desert folk that make this harsh wilderness their home. With the continuous movement of civilization, the desert is being occupied. With the settling of people comes the key ingredient to change the landscape - Water, a life source itself. Michael has followed this trail from the desert floor to the surrounding hills and into the High Sierras where man-made lakes and the changing of river flows has influenced the natural landscape for the purpose of civilization. He feels that his work will be a life-long study documenting what he sees and trying to portray the beauty that is pushed aside for the concrete damn or the collected river flow for the power that man needs.

He started his art career in the Advertising field at 20 years old, working for ad agencies throughout the Los Angeles area. He went from artist to art director in a few short years. After eight years he needed more color and to be closer to the fine arts field. He went to work at CBS television and painted sets and artwork for television. Leaving CBS he moved on to theatre and painted for the Dorothy Chandler and the Mark Taper Forum doing plays and opera. During the 1980s he moved to the motion picture field and has worked for Warner Bros. Scenic Art deptartment since 1985. During those years he has painted Billboards and Stage Backings for films like Ghostbusters, Dracula, Batman, The Green Mile, Spiderman, What Dreams May Come, Time to Kill, Toys, Jurassic Park, Planet of the Apes and several 100 others. He has also painted murals for Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Marin County, Phoenix, Arizona, Paramount Studios, Disney Studios, Sony Studios and Universal Studios.

He is also proud to have been a member of a Hollywood Scenic Artists union for 30years and now serves as a board of directors of the Art Directors Guild. During these years he has painted his personal paintings trying to capture the emotions that he feels for the land and beauty of the world around him.