UNION BRUSH WORKS
New London & Bear Creek

Viewing the Gallery

• There are pieces in the gallery. Use the thumbnail controls on the right to preview the works.
• The '-' and '+' buttons move the viewer backward or forward through the collection.
• Each painting's title and dimensions (Width x Height) are displayed below the controls.
• The 'ENLARGE' button calls up a larger version of the painting, and the price if available.
• When available, use the 'Add' button to include the work in the list of paintings you are considering for purchase.

• Use the given dimensions in judging the actual size of a piece; the pieces as displayed here are not comparatively scaled.
• The mattes and frames used in this presentation differ from the original.
• Every effort was made to preserve the actual color, texture, and tone of the original paintings in reproducing them for display here, but the match may not be exact.
• All work is copyrighted upon completion.

Interview With the Author

About how many paintings have you done as a professional artist?

Since 1986, about 900 paintings have found homes in 30 states & Ontario. The collection goes on the road for half a dozen shows each season. Those fairs are enough to disappear...a full year's work....Shows are special because I get to meet my art patrons.

What reaction do you hope for from those who view your work?

It shouldn't matter, but every Spring I wonder if the collection of new paintings will generate...interest again. The work is not meant to be only pretty or pleasing, but is intended to stop the viewer...to ponder a while. In a pastorale I want the viewer to feel what I felt painting it; in a satire I hope to translate my skepticism about the way things are done.

Why do you work in oils?

At art shows you would nearly have to hire a detective to find an oil painter these latter years. There are lots of watercolorists and acrylics people, but few oil painters. It must be bad turpentine taking them out. For me, in spite of the warnings, nothing can surpass the feel and life of rich full-bodied oils, shiny and shimmering on a well lit wall. So I have stayed with them for 25 years.

How long does a painting take?

After, 'Are these acrylics or watercolors?', that's the most common question I get, and it's a tough one. I once heard a watercolor guy defend time away on a fishing trip with, 'I'm not worried about getting behind. I can knock off 4 in a morning.' Not so with oil paint. A score of classic trucks took nearly a year, but a satire of New London lifeguards smoking behind the pool finished up in two 5-hour sessions.

Worthy painting or not, it takes a long time from the first go-round to the final varnish. It's a lot of time to worry it, and, too often, brush it out as a reject. In the studio, there may be 20 pieces in progress, some moving along like third grade angels, some belligerent as downtown hoods. So the answer to how long is 10 hours to 10 months. Or, maybe, each painting takes, right now, the 33 years from when I first dipped in a brush.

training, influences...?

During the '70s I studied at Academia Internacional Guadalajara, and with the Modernists at Stevens Point, nice people who had little success with me. While they marveled at Klee and Pollock, to me, it seemed like two more guys who just knocked off 4 pieces in a morning. So, while it's nice to spend a few minutes with the 'Soup Cans' at the Chicago Institute, to me, it's only a stopover on the way to the Inness and Monet Rooms.

Do you have a favorite piece?

My most cherished 'acquisitions' were two pieces taken in a gallery heist a few years ago. Not many painters can say they are this sought after. Either the work is getting more desireable, or cat burglars are getting less particular.

2002

Contact Information

Address:

Michael OConnell

809 Oshkosh Street

New London, WI 54961

Phone:

(920) 982 - 1587

Email:

omike88@hotmail.com

Acquisitions

• Use this page to review the paintings you have selected from the gallery.
• To remove a painting from this list, click the 'Remove' button by that piece.
• When ready to print out an order, click on 'Write Order':
• The prices listed on the mail order form are for your convenience
  and are subject to confirmation when we receive it.