theartofmichaelwhelan: “ WINDOW TO THE SUN (2006) by Michael Whelan Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 13” x 11” Since my most recent resolution to devote all my time to my gallery work I’ve been obsessed with painting these passageways. It doesn’t take a...
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WINDOW TO THE SUN (2006) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 13” x 11”

Since my most recent resolution to devote all my time to my gallery work I’ve been obsessed with painting these passageways. It doesn’t take a Sigmund Freud to figure out why. The career transition I seek to make is a prospect both compelling yet unnerving, so my dreams are filled with these iconic representations of my ambivalences. Most seem to be subjective derivations of experiences in previous years, exploring ruins of castles and abbeys in the UK.

In the case of this particular example, I have placed the symbol of my soul consciousness or desires on the other side, waiting for fulfillment. Waiting for me to come into the full light. I’m sending messages to myself here…. I think.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ SENTINELS (1988) by Michael Whelan Acrylic on Canvas After more than a decade of continuous illustration work, SENTINELS was Michael Whelan’s first non-commissioned painting and it’s still a favorite with fans. Who can resist...
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SENTINELS (1988) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas

After more than a decade of continuous illustration work, SENTINELS was Michael Whelan’s first non-commissioned painting and it’s still a favorite with fans. Who can resist imagining a peaceful world where children are enjoying nature and the symbols of war are falling into ruin?

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ ARMENIA (1990) by Michael Whelan Oil on Canvas - 22” x 35” Ar-me-ni-a, city in the sky a Who song, not the country. This painting deals with what the author Barbara Tuchman describes as the disillusionments of 20th Century...
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ARMENIA (1990) by Michael Whelan

Oil on Canvas - 22” x 35”

Ar-me-ni-a, city in the sky a Who song, not the country. This painting deals with what the author Barbara Tuchman describes as the disillusionments of 20th Century Man. Among the most crushing of these is the death of two cherished notions: that of progress and the perfectibility of mankind.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ ELLIE’S DREAM (2010) by Michael Whelan Acrylic - 40” x 30” The vision that became ELLIE’S DREAM came to me exactly as you see it here. I was thinking about the Moon Race and the clear cloudless skies of my childhood days in...
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ELLIE’S DREAM (2010) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic - 40” x 30”

The vision that became ELLIE’S DREAM came to me exactly as you see it here. I was thinking about the Moon Race and the clear cloudless skies of my childhood days in California. The curving structure is shaped to resemble a wind-twisted rocket contrail, something that I witnessed many times while living near Vandenberg missile base.

I chose a girl at the pinnacle of the structure because humanity’s reach for the moon will be incomplete until a female crew lands there and explores the surface, representing the other half of our species. (She’s named after Dr. Ellie Arroway, the character in Carl Sagan’s CONTACT, portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie, but that’s the only connection to the story.)

The job remains undone, the dream unfulfilled.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

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...
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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!

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ THE DREAMING LANDS (2002) by Michael Whelan Oil on Canvas - 20” X 30” This painting is one of several works derived from my experiences at MSKCC in 2000. That year I also read a couple of books which mentioned a feeling I...
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THE DREAMING LANDS (2002) by Michael Whelan

Oil on Canvas - 20” X 30”

This painting is one of several works derived from my experiences at MSKCC in 2000.

That year I also read a couple of books which mentioned a feeling I have experienced at night during camping trips: lying in some huge quiet wilderness area, and imagining the overwhelming weight of the Earth at my back, as if I was actually lying in space and pressing against my back was the huge sphere of the earth with all its wonder, order, chaos and complexity. At the same time I also had a sense of being a part of it all, of sinking into and being one with the foundation of stone and rock which supports us all, the whole planet and everything on it.

This feeling came to me again while I was recovering in the hospital, with the sense that all the buildings and man-made constructs were transparent as mist, that the “bones of the land” (the rock and stone under everything) were the only things that were real and solid and supporting me.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

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