Currently I am working on 5 mural projects. 2 murals for the Quarry Taproom, and another 950 square foot mural for downtown Hallowell. And I am also collaborating with another artist on a 2 mural project for a venue in Washington D.C.
My latest public commission was a new painting for the New Lithgow Library in Augusta, Maine, Stories from the Mezzanine.
I recently completed a new 21 foot mural for Bath, Maine. The theme is the “Spirit of Bath” which, of course, wraps around the history of shipbuilding in this City of Ships.
In 2015 I finished a mural for the new Capital Judicial Center in Maine’s capital at Augusta. This 14 x 40-foot mural called Kennebec is a maritime history of the Kennebec River with people, ships, history…lots of drama. Painting doesn’t get any better.
Over the years I have created many murals. Working big is having the sky for your canvas. However, I have also worked very small, illustrating over 30 books and book covers, painting miniatures, carving block prints, drawing etchings and monotypes. I love making things.
As a young ‘starving artist’, I started out as a sculptor in Guadalajara, Mexico, carving masks, and modeling figures in clay. But I found the lure of the brush too much to resist. And the best advice given to me back then by an old artist was, “Draw, draw, draw.” I have never stopped.
With a pencil or brush in hand I can create worlds within the canvas frame. The figures are my players and the canvas my stage. However, I am no fantasy artist. Reality creates the spark. My eyes open, I find things that need to be in my paintings.
I have exhibited in galleries and exhibitions in Maine, Seattle and New York City. As an illustrator I have worked for Hearst Books, William Morrow, Greenwillow Books, Random House and DownEast Books of Maine. And creating sets and playbills for theater is a thrill.
Born in Maine, I can claim that much coveted ‘native’ status but in truth I lived away a lot. My bones are solid New England stock but my blood carries the dusts of years in Mexico…and a bit of rust from the Pacific Northwest as well.
Back in my bohemian days I sold paintings at street shows and at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Today I enjoy the luxury of having my work in a great gallery, but there is an excitement, a rawness to selling art on the street.
I currently live with my wife and fellow painter, Jen Greta Cart, in Hallowell, Maine.
Painting, for me, is telling stories in pigment.
Mike Seitzinger
Apr 29, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Hello, Chris – Are any of your Rail Trail prints available (I have one), and, if so, is there a place where they can be seen?
Hope all is well.
Mike