Artist Statement

Michael Purvis has been involved in the creation of visual imagery in the worlds of corporate and brand graphics or in advertising for 40 years. He has managed firms that have designed identities and names for some of America's most famous hotel, fast food, banking and wine brands. He began painting in earnest in the early 70's but stopped to pursue his marketing profession. When he bought a vineyard in the Napa Valley 10 years ago, painting re-entered his life as a passion. In the past 3 years, it has become even more important than his golf game (well, maybe.) Living both in Napa and Solana Beach, with roots and ties in Marin and San Francisco, provides him access to some of America's most spectacular and paintable scenery -- an artist's dream in terms of day in and day out opportunities for expression on canvass. He pursues each landscape and subject because it is there and needs to be recorded beyond his mind's eye.