Michael J. Scott was born in Orillia, ON, and studied at Simon Fraser University, where he took some art classes and spent many hours doing life drawing. Encouraged early on by his father to draw in church, Michael has developed a painting practice that is largely self-taught, shaped by much guidance and inspiration from time spent at the Shilling home with Travis and Bewason. A decade of sustained attempts and effort led to solo exhibitions in Vancouver and Bracebridge, along with smaller shows in Toronto and Connecticut.
Given time, Michael finds that painting on site allows his work in the studio to become “more fluid and understood.” These efforts, he hopes, breed a style that is honest and comes from a genuine place. For him, “looking out a window and sketching an island in Muskoka” has always seemed more compelling than “spending hours sanding the floors and painting the ceilings for endless hours… just painting.”