Michael Slagle

My paintings are based on the landscapes of my neighborhood in Lakeland, compositions I have encounted on my daily routine: walking the dog, out and about with my kids, etc.  If I spot an interesting composition I will either take a picture or draw it, or both, and manipulate the image in Photoshop. Using Photoshop I flatten areas in the image, play with the composition, and tweak the colors.

In my most recent paintings I take the process one step further in Photoshop by incorporating a street map of Lakeland into the painting.  By incorporating a map into a painting I’m combining two different perspectives into a single scene: a map, which is meant to be read literally, and a painting, which is a stylized representation.