Praying mantis by Michael Ortiz (2008)

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Small $69.00

Description A watercolor of a newly-hatched praying mantis.

Michael Ortiz, Uvalde, Texas
Member Since February 2009
Artist Statement I am a painter. I work chiefly in watercolors and gouache, on hot-pressed watercolor paper or on hardboard prepared with a kaolin clay ground. I have a disciplined work ethic, and I take great pains in cultivating craftsmanship and technical skill.

I began to make works of art because I find great pleasure in representing the objects I encounter in nature and in human tradition. For me, painting is first of all a way of celebrating and appropriating the world. My subjects are generally drawn from nature and (the Catholic Christian) religion.

Despite my representational bent, I am driven to paint principally by a desire to impose dynamic symmetry upon compositions and to bring regions of color into harmony. Both my physical materials and my subjects relate to the work to be made as matter to form; my aim is to make works that are beautiful as objects of sight.

Finally, I have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. I thus possess many deficits characteristic of autism properly so-called. This does not define who I am, but it is an integral part of who I am. As I am, so, equivocally, are my works. With my disorder are associated not only deficits, but also what I consider to be great assets, and I take advantage of these in my work.

For more details about me and my work, please see my website michaelortiz.com or contact me at artwork@michaelortiz.com.