Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich What brought you to create wildlife in art?

What a joy to see your work.

I’ve always enjoyed drawing animals since I was a kid, so it’s natural that I came back to doing nature and wildlife.

It’s very inspirational to me.

When did you make the decision that this could be a profession for me?

I’ve always wanted to be an artist, so it just seemed like that was the thing that I was meant to do.

I kind of got into selling my art by accident.

I entered a contest for the Grand Rapids Comic Con to do their cover art, and ended up winning, and part of that was to sell my art at the convention, which I had never sold any of my art before, so that’s how I started making more artwork that was for people to enjoy instead of just what I was working on at school or anything like that.

You’re dubbed a mixed media artist.

So take me to, I guess, your studio.

We’re in front of a lot of your utensils, switch process.

I usually I start off with ink.

I use it kind of, like, it’s watercolor.

I’m not professionally trained in painting, so I’ve kind of come up with my own method of doing it just intuitively.

Usually, I do the ink painting first, and then go back in with color pencil for finer details and some guache.

So let’s say you’re painting your fox.

Do you see a picture?

How are you presenting that on paper?

Usually, I have an idea, all right?

in my head for it.

And then I go online and gather a variety of different reference images, to make sure that everything’s correct with the anatomy, and kind of make a mood board of sorts, of how I like the general vibe of it, or the lighting in this picture, or the color pilot in this picture, just so I have something that I can look at visually, that it kind of clarifies a bit more, what I already am picturing.

How’d you get this niche of finding wildlife and nature to be your specialty?

Yeah, I did a variety of different things previously, and within the past few years, I’ve kind of returned back to doing nature art, just because I enjoy doing that, and it seems other people also have taken a liking to it.

I think nature and wildlife is something that really connects to a lot of people, the beauty of the world and stopping to slow down and appreciate it.

So I know that it connects with people a lot, and I enjoy it.

That is what’s key, right?

There’s a picture of a beautiful blue bird that you’ve done, talk about that process.

I did that painting or, I guess I should say, illustration.

It’s actually done in marker.

I did that for awards, where they were presented as staff and faculty awards at KVCC, so, um, it’s kind of different than my usual process, but also similar.

I kind of use markers similar to my paintings, which you wouldn’t expect from a medium like that.

I actually haven’t done any, uh, drawings of my cats yet.

Oh.

I have the dogs.

I don’t usually draw cats, so I wanted to do that.

I guess I find them a little bit more tricky to draw.

I’m pretty used to drawing canines, and the cats’ faces are a lot different, so... I like drawing fur a lot, so I guess it’s very fitting that I draw animals.

Usually, I start my liner off with color pencil and a little bit of color variation in it.

And when I go on top of it, with the paint, it kind of melts together with the paints a little bit more, but there’s still liner there.

I like the look of liner, but I found that I don’t like the harshness of, like, a black liner, like, how I used to do.

I’ll move over to paint.

Acrylic, ink.

India, Ink, sorry.

Um, it’s, I guess it, like, its watercolor.

Although I’ve never been professionally trained in waller color, so anyone that knows anything about watercolor is probably cringing at my technique, but... it’s a little bit different, in a sense, that it’s a bit more permanent than watercolor.

Watercolor, if you lay down to wash.

You can kind of lift it back up a bit, if you’ve messed something up.

That’s nice.

Ink, you can’t do that.

It’s very permanent.

Once you lay it down, it’s not moving, which I actually kind of like.

So, if I put a layer of something down on it, disrupting it in any way.

Yeah.

It’s also very, uh, I don’t know if I said already.

It’s very pigmented.

So if I want pigment straight away, I can get it, or if I want it a bit more watered down, I can do that, too.

I kind of have these two brushes that I go back and forth between, uh, one of them has the ink on it, and one of them is just with water.

I use that kind of to blend it, or to get little strokes of the fur.

I actually only been working with ink... for a few years now.

I’ve discovered it, kind of on accident.

My life drawing class, my final semester in school, we had to use ink for some of our projects.

That’s kind of how I discovered.

using it the way that I do.

Yeah, I’ve recorded some of my process to do YouTube shorts of.

And, like, I have two hours of footage that I need to put down in, like, seven seconds.

Oh my God.

I just find it very funny when I go back and edit my footage, and it’s, like, this cute little animal drawing.

It’s all peaceful, and then I have metal or industrial music lying in the background.

Okay.

What’s another piece of art or craft that you’re proud of?

Um, I’m really proud of a piece called Wolf Lullaby.

I did it for my art series a couple years ago.

It’s one of my larger paintings that I’ve done to date.

So just the size of it, and I really like the vibe that it gives off.

It’s very peaceful, so it’s something that turned out how I envisioned it, so that’s why I’m so happy with it.

When do you name a painting?

Does that start at step one, or when the finished product has occurred?

I’ve never been good at naming my pieces.

Sometimes, like wolf a lullaby, I already had the title and mind when I first started painting it, and that kind of influenced what it turned out like, um, a lot of my other pieces.

They get named at the end of it, whatever I feel suits it.

How does the culture of Kalamazoo help you with your art?

Oh, it helps me so much.

There’s so many great opportunities in Kalamazoo for artists, and I’ve met so many talented artists, very kind people throughout the years, just in Kalamazoo, on my art adventures, a lot of the artwork that’s on the wall, is stuff that I’ve collected from people that I’ve met over the years, so just the general community is really helpful, but also different programs, like the arts council, the art series that I had was funded partially from them.

So... It seems like you’re a person that looks for opportunities, entering contests, submitting your work.

How important is that to do?

I think it’s very important.

I don’t ever expect to win anything when I enter, but there’s nothing to lose when you’re entering artwork in the shows or contests, so I always encourage a fellow artist to do the same.

Yep.

My business, I started that a couple years ago, um, doing it online.

I make almost all of my products myself in my studio.

I have a nice, fancy printer that I make all of my prints on.

I care a lot about making the prints as close to the original pieces as possible.

So, high quality inks and paper that has kind of a watercolor paper texture to it, just like the original paper.

I also make my own stickers in here.

So, yeah.

As a kid, were you a self starter?

Did you look for opportunities?

You mentioned a lot of this is self taught, along with your education.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, I grew up in a creative family.

My mom was an artist as well, so she really encouraged me to do things.

She’s the one that encourages me to enter a contest from the very beginning, so... Sometimes moms know it, know it best, right?

When you’re creating what’s your favorite part.

Do you like thinking about it?

Do you like the, you know, the last mark that you make?

What’s best for you?

I kind of like the entire process of it.

Not so much the start of it.

That’s kind of where I, I mean, it’s a lot more technical, uh, painting is where I can get in that flow state and really enjoy it.

I guess I would say my favorite part’s to end where I can go on with those fine details.

You also do portraits for other people, say they want a picture of their bubby or such?

What’s that like, bringing joy to someone from your talent?

Oh, I love doing that so much.

I know that people’s pets mean a lot to them, so being able to create something that is a unique piece of art for them that represents either an animal or a person that they are close to.

It’s really special.

And the talk.

of nature.

It’s good to get outside, whether we’re painting, walking, or just being... Absolutely very important, I think.

just to step outside and enjoy life, I guess, and not get so caught up in our day to day lives, with work and everything, just to go outside and be, I guess.

Inside joke, as we say our goodbyes.

Have you painted all your cats and dog?

Uh, not yet.

I’ve got quite a few to draw, so... nine cats and a dog, so... Well, good.

You’ll have time for that.

Yes.

Congratulations on you.

Thank you.

Those are just kind of, like, stories that I sort of gravitated towards, just things that kind of, like, acknowledge that there is darkness in the world, but also that good can overcome it.

My name’s Michelle Hunt, and I am a watercolor illustrator.

How would you describe the work of Michelle Hunt?

There’s a romance to it.

There’s something very soft and tender and romantic about the art that I make, and I always really loved that about it.

How did you develop a love and a talent with the watercolor?

When I was growing up, My... In the UP.

In the UP.

Yeah, there’s my visual.

In the UP, I lived on a cute little one story house on the lake, my first few years of life, and our next door neighbor was a watercolor artist.

And he was painting airplanes and cars, but I loved getting to go to his studio and seeing all of his tools and his paints and his palettes and everything like that.

My parents got me my first set of water colors when I was, like, in middle school, and they were a really, really crappy set of paints, and I hated them so much that I kind of wrote watercolor off, and I was like, Nope, not doing that, kind of hated it.

Then when I was in high school, I did an art project with watercolors that were much higher quality, and realized that I actually really, really loved them.

I loved the transparency of them.

I love the glow that you can get with watercolors.

I love how eco friendly they are and how, like, compact they can be.

You really just need, like, paint, paper, and brushes, and you’re kind of good to go.

I’ve got this autumn prince that I’m working on right now.

I always love autumn.

It is my favorite time of year, and I always like to have a few pieces.

Um, sort of new for the seasons.

So, I’m gonna be using some sepia permanent ink pens to start inking this piece.

I’ve already started it, but I’m going to continue inking it a little bit so that you can see a little bit of the inking process, and we’ll kind of start with that one.

I love inking my pieces.

I’d say that’s probably my favorite part actually, just because it’s very therapeutic.

I’m really just focusing on my breathing and focusing on drawing lines and just drawing with, like, such intention that I really, really get lost in that process.

And I do always ink before I paint.

Just so my lines don’t get lost once I start painting.

I’m really, really deeply inspired by, like, Art Nouveau movements and pre Raphaelite artists, and something that they always did really, really well was, like, really gorgeous, like, organic lines and really beautiful costumes and, like, hair and hands and fabric are things that I just really love painting because I like the challenge.

And so I’ve always really gravitated towards those styles that are very romantic and very, very soft and ethereal and feminine and magical in their own sort of way.

And for me, it is just sort of storytelling, sort of focusing on characters that I know and love, whether they be my own original characters.

I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons game with some friends for about 8 years off and on.

So it’s been an ongoing, kind of collaborative storytelling effort between myself and some friends of ours.

I also just really, really love mythology and legends and folklore.

So that has inspired not only our own storytelling, but also my art and the characters that I portray.

I feel like, um, those are just kind of like stories that I sort of gravitated towards.

Like I’ve always really loved like a good Gothic romance.

I’ve always really loved, like Lord of the Rings and like fantasy, and sort of like dark fantasy, just things that kind of like acknowledge that there is darkness in the world, but also that like good can kind of overcome it.

So it’s always just kind of been something around.

A little a little sheep girl.

This one is actually kind of the opposite.

I wanted to do some spring things.

I have a booth at the Grand Rapids Comic Con in November, and so this one’s actually gonna be an exclusive print that will be available at the con.

The cons are always really fun to go to, but I really love getting to show my art in a more gallery setting, which is a little bit trickier to find, but I think it’s just as important, because I believe getting to see titles and descriptions, and, for me, getting to do the write ups of my pieces, just adds so much value that you don’t always get to see when I just have a booth that’s just stuffed with as much art as I can sort of fill it with.

So I use a variety of paints when I’m working on these types of pieces.

My personal favorites are they’re called granulating paints.

So they are paints that sort of create their own texture.

It’s pretty obvious in the blue in the sky on this piece.

It almost has sort of, like, a sediment sort of texture to it.

And I really, really like using them, because it just adds some visual interest without me having to do a whole lot extra.

And I always just get so much joy out of seeing the paints sort of do their own thing, and how they sort of react when I just sort of step back and let them sort of move and settle in their own way.

When I’m working with watercolors, I always try to work from late to dark.

It’s always easier to add more paint than it is to remove paint.

Especially when it comes to watercolors because of their transparency.

So you can kind of see, like, the water playing with this paint and how it’s kind of settling and separating and getting some of that cool texture in there.

I just love it, it just makes me happy every time.

I lost my job back in May, and I’ve been painting full time since then, and so I’m always, like, kind of torn between, like, art is such a human thing that, like, we all should do on some level, like, creativity in general, like, whether it’s singing, or crocheting, or painting, or whatever it is.

It’s just such an innately human thing to do.

And so doing it, like, as a career does feel weird some days.

But it’s also such a joy to do.

How does the culture of Kalamazoo affect your creativity?

I would say that it’s been kind of nothing but positive for me.

Uh, getting to work specifically in the community studio that I am working in.

I have about six other artists that work in this space as well.

And, um, I met my best friend here, and they have been, like, a huge influence on my work, um, getting to work with other artists and seeing how they explore ideas has been really freeing.

And in that process, it has really helped me grow so much.

So I’ve grown a lot, not only as a person, but also as an artist, just getting to work around other people.

has been really incredible.

Tell us about Starlight Collective.

I got connected with them pretty quickly after I moved to Kalamazoo, and started doing some of their small shows with them.

And as soon as they had announced that they were doing a community studio, I jumped on that pretty immediately because having my own studio space is another dream of mine that I’d always wanted to accomplish.

So, um, yeah, they, they really just try and offer opportunities for working artists, and so they’ve done, like, music festivals, and they’ve done markets, and they’ve done, um, some really cool, like, little pop up shopping opportunities for people, and are just trying to really help, like, lift up other artists, which is really neat to see.

How do you create?

Your next piece.

I have, like, a running list on my phone of subjects that I want to paint, and usually, I will kind of have, it’s sort of a combination of, like, finding a reference photo that’s going to work for a thought that I have.

So usually when those two mesh is when I’ll be like, Okay, now’s the time to sort of create this piece, and color is involved sometimes, and sometimes you’re black and white.

Yep, I do some monochrome painting is what it’s called.

So I’ll often do, sort of, like, a gray scale black and white, or I’ll just use, like, a single color.

And my favorite is doing black and white with pops of gold, because I really love the contrast, is kind of my biggest thing.

But I also just think it’s a unique way to use watercolors, getting to do a full illustration, but in black and white or in, like, a monochrome scale is really fun.

And are you a solo artist that doesn’t need music, or do you have a favorite style that sends you away into talent world?

I’m always listening to music and podcasts.

I’m a huge fan of, like, Florence and the Machine and Hosier.

So, uh, really kind of ethereal but really powerful music, too, is what really kind of moves me, and they’ve inspired a lot of my work and a lot of my pieces.

At what point in your life, did you know that this would be the direction of your career?

Kind of always.

No, my dream was always to get out of the UP and go to art school, and I got to go to Kendall College of Art and Design, and I graduated from there, and then my dream was to move across country, and I landed in Seattle for a while.

And then a different dream brought me back here, and then my partner and I moved to Canada, and, um, art was just always, always a part of that plan.

Do you still have that next dream?

And what is it?

I feel like I’m always looking for the next, the next dream.

Uh, I am just coming off of having done a my first solo show.

So that was a huge dream of mine that I’m really proud of myself for accomplishing, and so now, it’s kind of just, yeah, what is that next thing?

What’s that next big thing for me?

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