Michele Walters

www.micheleelainewalters.com My Name is Michele Elaine Walters; I have been a painter for over eleven years.
My work has a dreamy quality that seems to tell a story. I have referred to my art as “Surrealistic”; others have referred to my work as “Dreamscapes”. My heritage is Cherokee and we believe that everything on this earth is alive and has a soul. My work portrays my surroundings incorporating a surrealistic ideology as landscapes are riddled with hidden images, primarily people.
As an artist I challenge the viewer to look into their own subconscious. I use symbolism to represent the reflection of my own subconscious and my interpretation of the current events in the world around me. Some of my symbols are bold and have a blunt message, where others are vague and left to be interpreted differently by each viewer. Most of my work is derived from my imagination with influences from my local landscapes, my heritage, and personal relationships. I have played with color theory and often times find myself using very bold colors which enhance the emotional state of the piece. I am inspired by the ideology of the original Surrealists and their fascination with Freudian dream psychoanalysis. Dreaming is very innocent and pure, as is painting.
My process begins with a sort of free association brain storming session. It's almost a form of journaling, but with images. I sometimes sketch in my sketch book before I begin a piece, but I usually end up “paint sketching” directly on the canvas with an under painting. This method of working allows me the freedom to experiment with color. I find myself blocking in sections of the painting with a color of which I then turn into something that reminds me of that color. Because certain symbols represent key emotions, I tend to have reoccurring subject matter. To break the cycle of using redundant images, I sometimes meditate on a piece to cleanse my mental palette. This is how I challenge myself, because I then attempt to paint an image I have never attempted to paint before.
My unique way of working is constantly evolving and growing. Some artists would like to be rich and famous; I simply want to justly represent my generations’ challenges, triumphs and emotional virtue. Artists have the task of reflecting and preserving history in its most sincere translation.