Local Artist Michele Michael was selected to feature her painting, “Strawberry Skies,” as the face of Sunriver Music Festival’s 49th season. As she geared up for a meet and greet event on June 20, she reflected on her career trajectory and what inspires her.
the Source: What does it mean to you to be the 2026 selected artist for the Sunriver Music Festival?
Michele Michael: It means a lot to me. I live in the Sunriver community, so I feel like South County and the people who live there have a really strong bond and a really strong community… It’s a big honor and I feel like I’m even more tied to the community than I already was.
tS: What inspires you?
MM: I’m inspired by a sense of place. I’ve always been kind of obsessed with a sense of place like where you live and where you work and where you travel to…Most of my paintings are very specific to an exact location that you would know if you spent time there. The inspiration for this painting was from the Deschutes River, which is like a five-minute walk from my house. I’m just inspired by the meaningful places that we all go to all the time and recognize.
tS: What was the journey like to get where you are now?
MM: It was sort of long and winding… I went to study in college. I assumed like everyone else that I would never be able to have a career or survive or support myself with that. I didn’t really practice my art much for probably more than a decade, until I started traveling a lot with my husband, and I just started sketching and doodling again. It’s been a long roll, but I think it was always sort of where I was, what I was meant to do.
tS: How did it feel to make that leap to pursue art full-time?
MM: I mean, it felt incredible. I support my family with it. It feels like a pinch-me moment, like every day. I feel extremely fortunate that this is the thing I just love to do is the thing that also provides for my family. When I finally put in my notice at my corporate job it was definitely scary, but it was also so exciting and felt like, ‘OK let’s ride this for as long as we can,’ and now it’s been four years.
tS: Do you still think blue is the most inspiring color?
MM: Yes. I definitely do. I don’t think I’ll ever change that. It’s obviously prevalent in my work because it’s a lot of outdoor scenes, so sky and water and river. I’ll probably always be inspired by blue.
tS: How would you describe your creative process?
MM: Generally it starts as a physical process of going someplace… It’s being somewhere being surrounded by that, being inspired by a specific scene, thinking about other folks who might be in that same location and what they might love about it as well. Then I snap a lot of photos and they’re not very good photos. They’re things that capture — the part I want to take home and capture. Then I’ll take those photos and go back to my studio and kind of merge them together…I just start painting.
tS: I saw that you are featured in some stores locally. What are those stores?
MM: I’d say the largest ones are the Bend store downtown, Bend REI. I have some smaller work in a lot of other little stores like Newport Avenue Market.
tS: Is there anything else you would like to say?
MM: I always encourage people to pursue their creativity, whether it’s for work or business or not. You don’t have to make money off something and you also don’t have to have any sort of judgement about whether it’s good or bad. It’s the act of creating that is important for everyone.
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