-Tell us a little bit about yourself.
“There's one thing we have to get straight right from the get go - I typically don't tell a “little bit” about anything - I'm Irish. I don't use five words when twenty will do just as well. You mean, the basics though, name, rank, serial number, that sort of thing right?”
-Exactly, where you're from, how long you've lived where you live, stuff to get us going…
“Well, I was born and raised in Reno, NV. I'm kind of a rarity compared to the general population around here. I grew up here, on the Eastern side of the Sierras, out in the sticks. I was a country boy, a bumpkin actually…no, more of a country hoodlum, but let's don't get into that. I loved growing up in the country and spent most of my childhood in the great outdoors having great adventures with my siblings and cousins. I was the second of six kids, which isn't all that bad of a place to occupy in the pecking order. I'm a 4th generation Nevadan and where I grew up was once a ranch though there was only a little ranching going on when I was little and virtually none by the time I was a teenager.”
-Obviously you're grown now, married with children, can you tell us a little about your family?
“Sure, and this is a good point to segue into that. I met my wife when we were teenagers. We were in a play together in high school. Her name was Roben Devine. To keep it short, we fell in love and were high school sweethearts that never fell out of love. We've now been married for twenty two years and have three children, Ian, Brianna, and Alissa.”
-Your paintings are great, how long have you been doing art?
“Practically since I've been able to hold a pencil. My earliest memories are from when I was about four at my grandma's house. She would give me a nice white sheet of typing paper and a pencil and I'd draw for hours – not on the same piece of paper, of course. Later, when I was about twelve, my mom signed me up to take private painting lessons from a dear lady named Lenore Emmons. She taught me the basics of color theory and gave me a lot of confidence with the medium of oil. I painted under her tutelage until I was about fifteen or so and never took art class in high school because I thought I was already just about the greatest artist around.”
-So what did you do after that?
“Well, I had so much confidence in myself, that right out of high school, I applied at Disney. I was politely rejected and that really deflated my ego. Roben, however, had a great deal of confidence in me and when she was still in high school, she happened across a recruiter for a technical school in Phoenix that had a new commercial art program starting. I got in touch with him and after Roben and I got married, we ended up moving to Phoenix. It was there that I had the opportunity to study with a great artist named Ralph Barksdale. Unfortunately, due to a series of tragedies, I was able to study with Ralph for less than a year. After that, I pretty much had to teach myself anything that I was going to learn. So, while I'm not entirely self-taught, I'm semi-self-taught.”
-Who has been your biggest influence?
“Art-wise or encouragement-wise? Encouragement-wise, no question, it's been my wife. She's always encouraged me to paint and grow as a painter. She has also been and continues to be my most honest critic, which, when I listen to her, I usually end up growing in some way. Art-wise, in my earlier days, I was influenced by illustrators since illustration was my field of study. I tried to emulate guys like Bernie Fuchs, Michael Dudash, Mark English and Robert Peak. Later, as I grew and my own style began to evolve, I watched Gregory Manchess whose art I still love. Lately, I've been more influenced by a broader group of fine artists who paint more opaquely, the foremost being Howard Terpning. I think he's simply a master.”
-Where are you at currently? What are you up to these days?
“Well, let's back up just a little. In my early twenties, being young, dumb and without a whole lot of marketable skills in the graphics or illustration field, I spent a good number of years trying to earn a living for my family. After we had been married for a couple of years, we started having children. We have three great kids and I often thank God that He gave them to us when He did because if we had waited until we could have afforded them, we may have never had them. Anyway, we struggled quite a bit in those days. I did a lot of things, from selling life insurance to washing windows to working in the sign business. The thing that got neglected largely was painting. I still managed to paint from time to time. I was even in a co-op gallery for a while, but for a long time other things took precedence. Eventually I got a good, steady job as a graphic artist at a very large company where I had the opportunity to learn the leading graphics software in the industry. Eventually, I learned it so well that today I'm responsible for the training of a department of thirty plus artists as well as develop new methods to produce our work more efficiently. Along the way, I taught myself web design and started taking on freelance clients.
“Our kids are pretty much grown now and Roben is teaching second grade. In retrospect, the days have been like a vapor. Last year [2002], I was asked to do the artwork for the Great Reno Balloon Race. This, and other recent commissions made me realize how much I love painting and how I really want to do it. One day, in a conversation with my dear wife who has always had great confidence in my painting ability, we came to the conclusion that I needed to just go for it. Short of quitting the corporate job, I gave up all my freelance clients and started painting in earnest in the time that I wouldn't be freelancing. I've started producing giclée prints and because of my graphics experience, I oversee the entire process and we get the highest quality prints. People love them and I've started to sell them on the internet.”
-Well Mike, I know I'm one of those who love your work. I'm looking forward to the see what you do this year. How can someone keep abreast of your progress?
“www.mikecallahangallery.com. I'll try to keep my website updated with news and works in progress. On the immediate horizon, I'm working on a series of paintings depicting the beauty of the Sierra Nevada Mountains - mostly the eastern sierra which I believe is some of the most breathtaking landscape on the planet."
-You seem to like to teach, being a trainer. I've also read an article or two on how you create your paintings, do you anticipate doing any seminars or workshops?
"It's funny you should ask. I've been toying with the idea of a workshop, but I don't know. Maybe if people express an interest and let me know via email, and I'd have to be able to do it for a decent price. (I don't believe in charging exorbitant rates for information)...well, who knows?"
-Mike, it has been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you.
“Thank you, the pleasure's been all mine.”
Questions or comments for Mike Callahan may be emailed directly to him:
mike@mikecallahanart.com
