“Color-Texture-Shape-Lines” is a body of work by Homer artist Michelle Michaud, inspired by her time spent outdoors and her first solo exhibit.

“Each of these elements plays an important role in my work,” Michaud said. “A lot of my work is inspired by nature and when I’m outdoors, I look at the various colors of the bay, mountains, sky, clouds and vegetation, the different textures, the shapes such as a tree, mountains and clouds and the lines created by the shoreline, the snow on the mountains, even dead pushki stems draw me in. These elements are limitless, and I think about how I can use them in my paintings.”

Michaud’s exhibit showcases mostly oil and cold wax medium, which she enjoys working with as it provides her room for experimentation, fun and play. A couple of her pieces are mixed media paintings that incorporate natural images, like “Of Course” in which she has included moose hair, and “Leaf Lets,” which incorporates real leaves. And all but two of her paintings, “Mountain Time” and “Them Their Mountains,” are abstract.

“I tend to be a perfectionist, so with representational art I want my painting to look exactly like what I am trying to paint, be it flowers or a landscape, and I’m never satisfied because my paintings never look like what I’m trying to paint,” she said. “I get frustrated, and this type of painting isn’t fun for me. Painting abstracts is much more freeing.”

Michaud’s paintings are created organically as she paints in the moment and with a preconceived notion of the finished painting.

“I might plan out what colors I want to use in a painting, but that changes over the life of the painting, and so do the textures, lines and shapes,” she said. “I may use a color, then decide it doesn’t work and paint over it. I may put in a line, but then smooth it out, provided the paint hasn’t dried yet. The same goes with a texture. I can keep it or not. I play it by ear and see what I like as I go. Some paintings take a week to complete, others much longer.

Michaud said she “intuitively” knows when she’s finished with a painting.

”I get this feeling that ‘this is it,’ and if later I change my mind I can always paint over it,” she said. “Sometimes if I’m not sure about whether I like a certain aspect of the painting or not, say a color or a shape, I’ll hang it on the wall and look at it on a regular basis and then later either decide to leave it like it is or continue adding more color, texture, shapes or lines.”

“Of Course” is her most recent painting, a mixed media piece where lines of fine black and white moose hair appear to float from the top of the painting downward, with colors of red, white and gold behind that section of the piece.

“I collect items from nature like twigs, leaves, seeds and moose hair for possible use in my paintings, but the moose hair wasn’t initially a part of this painting,” she said. “After completing the painting, I knew it needed something, and the moose hair came to mind. I love the contrast between the black and the white moose hair and the squiggly lines of the hair, and the red, white and gold adds a little zing to the painting.”

Michaud’s process for her oil and cold wax paintings includes working simultaneously on several paintings in varying phases.

“I can do a typical oil painting in a day or so, but with oil and cold wax I build up layers of color and cold wax, which takes longer,” she said. “My painting ‘Stop Right Here’ probably has 20 or more layers of paint. More layers adds more textures.”

Michaud enjoys the depth that creating textures gives her paintings and does so using a variety of materials, including tissue paper, ceramic ribbon tool, coffee sleeves and bamboo skewers.

“The more you crinkle tissue paper, the more texture you get,” she said. “Ceramic ribbon tool is great for scraping back layers and bamboo skewers are great for creating lines. Shapes can be organic or geometric, and since many of my paintings have organic shapes, I decided to try a few that were more geometric. Those are ‘Echoes of Marrakesh’ and ‘Ode to Morocco.’”

To create her oil and cold wax paintings, Michaud uses tools like brayers, squeegees and palette knives to apply the paint as she starts with a base layer of paint and cold wax and builds up from there. For substrates, she uses cradle boards, multi-media boards and stretched canvas.

Raised in Montana, Michaud grew up in a family of artists. She has a brother who paints and a sister who creates mosaics, and their mother painted oils and watercolors. At the age of 10, Michaud began drawing birds in her Golden North American bird guidebook and she took art classes throughout her junior, high school and college years. She has taken watercolor classes both in-person and online. She began learning about oil and cold wax through YouTube videos, followed by several online workshops and an in-person workshop.

Michaud and her husband moved from Oregon to Homer in 2007 after he retired from his job with Parks and Recreation. Michaud retired from her work in natural resource management in 2013 and began painting more seriously in 2017 after taking a couple of painting classes at Homer Art & Frame.

“I started out in acrylic and quickly changed to watercolor,” she said. “I still do some watercolor, but my art practice has been primarily oil and cold wax for the past three years.”

With a passion for traveling both nationally and internationally, which includes activities like hiking and birding, Michaud brings along with her a set of watercolor paints and watercolor paper wherever she goes.

“Color-Texture-Shape-Lines” is Michaud’s first solo exhibit. She has participated in the Homer Council on the Arts member and 5×7 shows, as well as Bunnell Street Arts Center’s 10×10 shows. A member of the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society, she has shown her watercolor paintings at Fireweed Gallery and participates in their monthly paint-togethers during the non-summer months and their annual fall three-day workshop.

“My creativity is very important to me, and I would be lost without it at this point in my life,” Michaud said. “I like to say, ‘paint what you feel, enjoy what you paint.’”

Abstract artists she admires include Anchorage artist Graham Dane for his use of colors and lines, North Carolina artist Jodi Ohl for her use of color and lines, Oregon artist Serena Barton for her use of color, shapes and textures, and U.K. artist Louise Fletcher for her use of colors and collage. Michaud’s goal with this exhibit is to showcase abstract work, which she does not see a lot of in the community.

While Michaud does not currently have an online presence, her “Color-Texture-Shape-Lines” exhibit can be viewed at HCOA through June 30, and in the South Peninsula Hospital Gallery in August and September. Her work can be found year-round at Ptarmigan Arts, where she is a member and displays her smaller oil and cold wax works and watercolor paintings, as well as her handmade cards.

“Reflections” is an oil and cold wax painting by Michelle Michaud, on display in her solo exhibit at Homer Council on the Arts through July 2, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Michelle Michaud

“Stop Right Here” is an oil and cold wax painting by Michelle Michaud on display at Homer Council on the Arts through July 2, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Michelle Michaud

”Color-Texture-Shape-Lines,” an exhibit by Homer artist Michelle Michaud, is on display at Homer Council on the Arts through July 2, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting