Artist Spotlight: Michael J Breyette

Today's spotlight artist is Michael J. Breyette who was born in November of an unknown year. For those that are close to him, he is known as Mikey. He is originally from northern New York but currently resides in Massachusetts.

Michael uses his real name rather than an alias for his art. He is not really sure when he started drawing however he says it is just something he has always done. He believes we all doodle and draw when we are young. He works with soft pastels (the chalk-like ones). Many people confuse these with airbrush in his art pieces.

He was inspired to become an artist because he has always liked to draw and create and believes that painting is a great outlet for that. He states, "It's not as if one day something happen and I said to myself I want to be an artist and set out on that path. It's more like I just followed a path and then one day realized or admitted to myself, yeah I guess I'm an artist."

Michael's family is artist as well. Before her children were born, Michael's mother was a hobby painter. His sister is an artist as well, however she does not do it as a career. She occasionally does portraits. Michael and his sister used to paint together and have learned lots of different things from each other as well.

Being an artist has been Michael's full time job since November of 2003. He likes to get inspired by going out and about and observing and socializing. Although when it comes time to actually sit down and work he works best when he is at home, alone. His niche is the male form, though his work isn't always about physics. He believes he expresses his perspective as a gay man towards life, love, culture and the society we live in through his art. He is compelled to be this type of artist because he feels compelled to be as well as the fact that it makes him happy.

Michael's favorite artists when he was just starting out were the works of fantasy artists like Boris and Rowena and the science fiction work of Michael Whelan. Today he enjoys the work of many contemporary artists like Beau, Kent, Robert W. Richards, Paul Richmond, Patrick Fillion, Steve Walker and Tom Jones for many reasons such as their point of view, their style and technique and their contribution to art and culture through a gay mans' perspective.

His favorite thing about being an artist is enjoying the scenes he makes and the works he creates. It is not so much about the process as it is about the finished result. He also loves the response of people towards his work as well as finding it great to be able to do something you love for a living.

Michael is currently working on getting ready for his solo exhibit called "The Breathtaking Blue" which will be held July 10-22^nd at Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Most of what he has been working on lately has been for the exhibit. However, he will be glad to move on in other directions. He does have a book of short stories based on his art in the works for being published. There is not yet a set date to it's release.

His least favorite thing about being an artist is the business side as well as having to promote yourself.

Michael has never felt the need to give up or quit being an artist.

When asked his viewpoint on his images and usage on the Internet, he states, "Images I post are copyrighted. I know many people think anything publicly posted on the Internet is in the public domain. That just is not true. Copyright laws still hold true. You can't just use someones work willy-nilly. However, if someone credits me for my work and provides a link to my website, I am usually okay with it. Though it's nice if they ask first. After all people need to know where to find my work if I am going to earn a living. I take issue when someone posts my work in a way that they can somehow profit from it, perhaps on their own website that they either charge for or earn money by having advertising."

Michael's message to children is do something you enjoy. You may not know what it is yet, you might not know until you are 30 or 40, but when you do, go for it no matter what you are doing or where you are at, at the time.

Michael's message to an aspiring artists is the only audience you need to try and please is yourself. If you are true to yourself people will pick up on that and appreciate what you do.

In his spare time, Michael likes to cook, go hiking and biking, go sightseeing, leisurely activities as well as recently taking photographs.

Although Michael accepts commissions, he is rather selective and needs to find something in it that inspires him to paint. Mostly he would just rather paint for himself. Michael's art is also for sale at The Art of Michael Breyette and generally cost around $2900 for unframed original art. His art is also available for sale through the Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. His art is also available in limited edition prints, cards, postcards, magnets and an annual calendar of his work. Therefore his art is available to almost every budget.

You can view Michael's art at his upcoming exhibit as well as at The Art of Michael Breyette.

Michael's message to our readers: You can also check out my work in my books "Summer Moved On" and "On the Drawing Board". I am also included in the anthologies "Stripped", and "Stripped: Uncensored" (which is due out in the U.S. in August) and "The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today" Volumes 1-3, for which I won Viewer's Choice Award in 2008 and the Fine Art Award in 2009.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and learning about a fantastic and unique artist. Please feel free to visit his site and comment on his work and this article.