MICHAEL WHELAN

THE LEAVETAKING (1992) by Michael Whelan

Oil on Canvas - 18” x 48”

Michael planned for this piece to be a large “preliminary” to a new work in his Passage series that he would paint in oils. He doesn’t usually use models (he prefers to create a person who fits exactly into his scene) and he always paints alone, but he wanted the design of the robe on the sand to suggest the drawing of water back into the sea. To get the correct fall of the fabric, he had a model pose in his studio while he painted and the “preliminary” became the finished work.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

PASSAGE: VERGE (1989) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Canvas - 48” X 36”

A painting with many meanings, but the most obvious one deals with the question of the woman taking a last look back before she decides to step off the cliff and go through the arch to an afterlife - or does she turn around and stay?

Michael doesn’t like to say, since he also considered it as a portrayal of him “stepping off the brink” from his safe career as an illustrator into the unsure world of fine art.

Judging by her quietly assured pose, it seems that whatever she chooses will be the right decision. Michael didn’t feel so calm about his!

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

THE CROSSING (1997) by Michael Whelan
Oil on Canvas - 30” X 60”

The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

PASSAGE: THE RED STEP (1988) by Michael Whelan

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GREEN PASSAGE (2010) by Michael Whelan

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

PASSAGE: THE AVATAR (1988) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 48"

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

THE CROSSING (1997) by Michael Whelan
Oil on Canvas - 30” X 60”

The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)