Dec. Spotlight- Mike Polk

I have always loved Art, creating and admiring. My creating journey started when I saved the extra oil paints from four or five Paint by Number sets. I made my own scene on a piece of heavy cardboard. I was trained in drawing as a boy by a television artist named Jon Nagy on Saturday mornings.

A few years later, after moving to the California coast, I learned to draw waves and surfers. There was a cartoon character named Murph the Surfer that I attempted to perfect. Drawing waves and surfers was a survival technique I learned because there were days it was too cold for a reasonable person to be in the water. A few of us boys got pretty proficient at drawing waves and even learned to add a watercolor tint to the Bristol board surface. A guy that owned a surf shop saw some of the drawings and said he would hang them in his shop if we framed them. My first art shop at 14 years old (me and my buddies).

Art took a backseat to raising a family and making a living but was always in my life. I painted a few times a year with some of the same friends from my years at the beach. When I found the time I took private lessons.

While it was difficult to find time to paint it was easy to load up the family and go to an art museum or even an art show. There is an abundance of opportunity to view seminal art in California. We all loved looking at good art but I  never could get the flavor of modern art. As I looked at more of it I decided I would enroll in a college art class on 20th century modern art. I loved the class and was thrilled that I was able to appreciate modern art. I was so happy I decided to take more art history classes. I also took the entire curriculum for an art certificate from Coastline College. I attended classes at night for 5 years to attain the certificate. I also was a volunteer docent for Orange County Museum of Art for 8 years.

I decided that Plein Air was my favorite method to exercise my passion with art. I used oil paints for many years but changed to watercolor about 10 years ago. I was a member of the plein air painters of the Huntington Beach Art Association, the Orange Art Association, La Quinta Fine Arts Association, the Nampa Air Guild and Plein Air Painters of Idaho.

I still love the process of painting and love to enjoy looking at the creation of others. I paint strictly for my pleasure. I love painting with friends. I reject any pressure regardingto what I paint. I paint for the moment. I love the painting while I work on it and then lose interest in it as soon as it is finished or completed in my mind.

I love being a member of PAPI and I enjoy painting with the members.