My Journey in Art

Michael Mackowski
Updated 4/18/24

I’ve always dabbled in art of some sort. I showed evidence of some sort of talent even in grade school. I did this sketch of a classmate when I was eleven years old.

Mark Lewandowski, pencil on paper, 1964

When I was in junior high, I would take a pencil sketchbook on family vacations and create landscape sketches.

Grand Canyon, pencil on paper, 1970

 In college I painted a couple of wall murals, one in an engineering student lounge and another in the baptistry of the student Catholic chapel. I also did a few pen and marker poster paper murals, and a couple in pastels on large poster paper.

 
Exploring Jupiter, acrylic on brick wall, ~1975

 Most of my adult artistic output, however, has been in scale models, building them with extra detail and researched for accuracy.

Mir, 1/144 scale model kit + detailing, 2013

It wasn’t until my fifties that I tried watercolor. In 2004 I took a class at the local community college to get some basic training. For a while I took a watercolor set on vacations to capture the scenery. Some was plein air, but much was from photos that I painted in the hotel room or when I got home. At some point I decided watercolor was messy and too large to pack for an airline trip.

Observation Point, Zion N.P., watercolor on paper, 2015

Around 2015 my wife got me a big set of acrylic paints and I bought an easel. I even took it on a long summer trip in 2019. I enjoyed doing some landscapes on that trip, working mostly from photos. Like anything, you need to practice a lot to get good at something. On these trips, it was easier to do some painting versus building scale models, which required a lot more tools and supplies. But over the long haul, I have much more experience at modeling than painting, so it has been difficult to come up with paintings that I am happy with. I really don’t expect to find the time (too many hobbies) to get good enough to be anything close to photo realistic. So I tried to paint with a looser “style” that is more impressionistic. I have not been successful at that after many attempts. Maybe I’m too technical to be loose. Maybe it’s poor quality paint. I don’t know.

Norskedalen (Wisconsin), acrylic on canvas board, 2019

 Here is a farm sunset scene I did in a “realistic” approach. I like how the sky came out.

Prairie Sunset 1, acrylic on canvas board, 2019

Here is that same sunset done “looser.” I’m not sure I like it any better than the first version.

Prairie Sunset 2, acrylic on canvas board, 2019

 Here is a cloud study where I was practicing clouds. I consider all my paintings as practice work.

Canyonlands (Colorado) Cloud Study, acrylics on canvas, 2020

I paint what I see – that’s my approach. Some artists talk about color selection and then plan a pallet. I just paint the colors I see. I don’t try to send a message with my paintings. There is no hidden meaning. At least most of the time. I don’t have any urge to portray a feeling or emotion in what I paint. I’m just trying to capture a moment.  Is that good or bad? What do artists call that approach?

I’ve seen memes about the difference between art and craft. St. Francis of Assisi said:

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands, his head, and his heart, is an artist.

I think I am mostly a craftsman.

I’ve occasionally tried more abstract subjects. I am part of a space artists group, and I was invited due to my scale models of spacecraft. But I did space scenes back in college, so I tried a few more recently. I had actually built a model of this lunar Gemini concept, below, so I tried to paint it. It’s a bit cartoonish, but a decent illustration.

Lunar Rescue Gemini, acrylic on paper, 2019

 In the summer of 2020, I tried a couple of spacey-fantasy pieces, including Moon Soup, which I actually sold at Spacefest in 2021.

Moon Soup, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2020

 I attended a five-day plein air workshop in October 2020. It was a good experience, and I made some nice paintings. I’m not sure I learned much, as there was not really a lot of instruction, but I did get several paintings done. I think the pieces I finished were too much of a “here’s what I saw” and had little “here’s what I felt” content. I don’t know if that can be taught.

Courtyard Gate (Tubac), acrylic on canvas board, 2020

But after that workshop, I didn’t do any painting for over a year. Too many other hobbies. When I tried a couple more acrylic landscapes recently (early 2022), I was not happy with them. They came out okay, but nothing special. This first version of a little waterfall in Vermont, was done with acrylics on an 11x14 inch canvas panel.

Photo of Perkinsville stream, 10/1/2021

Perkinsville VT 1, acrylic on canvas board, 2022

I did a second attempt with this scene, trying to paint in a looser style with bigger brushes. This one was a bit smaller, on an 8x10 inch board. It came out looking just like the first attempt.

Perkinsville VT 2, acrylic on panel, 2022

So I tried again, painting over it with a bigger brush. Note that I am still mostly “painting what I see.” Although I did consider what did I “feel” when I look at the reference photo.

 

Perkinsville VT 3, acrylic on panel, 2022

This was a small stream behind a vacation rental house we considered staying at. There was a woods and a series of small waterfalls. Very pretty and tranquil. So what feelings does that suggest? Perhaps something peaceful and relaxing. The colors and values were all pretty muted in my first attempts, as the trees and busy stream and shrubs and rocks all made sort of a messy muddled scene. There were no big objects or chunks of a single color or contrast to draw your attention. Maybe that combination could have some “sparkle” to it. The second attempt wound up with brighter colors, and it’s okay, but it doesn’t connect with me as expressing a personal “style.”

So let’s try a different medium. One medium that I have played with is a pencil and/or pen sketch with some watercolor or watercolor pencil fill. I previously did a couple of those with aerospace equipment as the subject. I thought that would be a unique, rarely used subject, and something that I was familiar with and had some meaning for me. I think those came out okay.

GLAST TVAC, ink and watercolor on paper, 2007

I’ve also used that approach when I travel, as it is nice and compact, and I can finish a sketch fairly quickly. Here a couple of examples. I actually did Ford Butte in oil pastels and chalk pastels as well, as an experiment. I like the inked version best, below. The Assonet Bridge piece included watercolor pencil, and I really like how that turned out.

 

Ford Butte, ink on paper, 2019

Derelict Boat, ink on paper, 2021

Assonet Bridge, ink & watercolor pencil on paper, 2021

So I tried doing the Vermont scene with pen and watercolor pencil. I still seem to get a “paint what I see” result, but I’m quite happy with it. I like it better than the any of the acrylic versions. Perhaps I’m just the kind of artist who simply wants to capture a moment or a scene without having to overlay a “mood” or fake colors on it. I don’t think about the palette before I paint, since the scene tells me what colors to use. I don’t feel a need to restrict it to say, three colors, or invent a fake focal point (other than to establish a good composition). Why should add some element I if it wasn’t there to begin with? That approach gave this result, and I think it is more representative of what might be my “style” compared to the earlier attempts.

Perkinsville VT 4, ink and watercolor pencil on paper, 2022

I might try this approach with some of my earlier landscapes. Maybe I will look for some travel photos and apply this technique. A sketchpad and watercolor pencils and even a small watercolor set could travel well. If all I want to do is to capture some travel scenes (and not worry about sticking some “emotion” into the work) that might satisfy my creative urges. 

So I think I’m getting closer to figuring out my direction. Maybe I’ll use the acrylics for some abstract concepts, like this space-themed work (below)  that actually has some meaning behind it (escaping the bonds of gravity). We’ll see.

Breaking Away, acrylic on canvas board, 2017

Summer 2022 Update

My wife and I went on a long summer adventure, spending most of the time in Colorado and Wisconsin. I messed around with pencil and ink sketching, brushed watercolor, watercolor pencils, and colored markers. I found that I was happiest with a pen sketch that I used watercolor paint or pencils to add color. Here are some examples of the best of those.

Box Canyon, ink & marker, 2022

Cedaredge House, ink & markers, 2022

Cross Orchard, ink, 2022

Derelict Tractor, ink & watercolor, 2022

Fox Lake cottage, ink & watercolor, 2022

Timber Coulee Creek, ink & watercolor, 2022

Main St., Viroqua, Wis., ink & watercolor, 2022

Spring 2024 Update

Here are some of my favorite art pieces I did since 2022.

Yellowstone Falls, ink & watercolor, 2023

Moonscape, scratchboard (4x6"), 2024

Tetons, ink and watercolor (4x6"), 2024



Live Oak at the Eclipse, ink and watercolor (4x6"), 2024

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This page revised 4/18/24