My love of colorful landscapes developed from my childhood years of watching brilliant and vivid weather-scapes in and around the enchanting deserts of Albuquerque, New Mexico during the 50’s and 60’s.
My deeply seeded love of painting took root and grew from my training at Studio 2 Art Gallery in La Mesa, California, under the famed pastelist and animal artist, Marilyn Grame ( www.zhibit.org/mgrame), and later became my beloved mother-in-law.
I was able to paint extensively in the 70’s while in the Army in Germany. Since I was on shift duty status I was able to get away during the daytime to study the finer points of detailed watercolor craftsmanship under a famed watercolorist, Herr Herschfeld near Wiesbaden, Germany. During the 1990's I studied under Lela Harty in San Diego where I pursued the ability to paint expressively and quickly thus fulfilling a deep desire to paint in the out doors.
Thanks must be given to my lovely wife Dana who has pressed on during the journey of our life all these years when I rarely got much time to paint while raising our family and both working to live in San Diego. She has always made accommodations in the living room of our small places so I could get a commission done. Our living rooms have been more like art studios over the past 35 years. Thanks must further and greatly be given to Marilyn Grame who kept us provided with books, magazines, materials and paint over the years, always encouraging and making ways for art experiences. Thanks definitely goes to my mother Virginia who owns my first painting because she was always trying to protect my hands and eyes while growing up as a rough-tough desert kids who loves the outdoors more than the indoors. It takes a lifetime to finally believe in ourselves the way our mothers do when we are young.
Thanks go greatly to daughter and son-in-law Ginger and Bob Akers who gave me my first website www.michaelwascher.com. Thanks to daughter and son-in-law Anna and Kevin Grable, who made it possible for us to visit Kauai, Oahu and Australia to paint some of the most vivid seascapes and sunsets anywhere. Kevin owns the largest oil painting I ever did…an Hawaiian seascape. Such great contributors to my joy in art. And to add to all the joy of our family, we have 3 great children whom we are so proud of as the have established their own households with loving godly spouses who have provided 5 grandchildren.
All thanks must go to Jesus the Christ, who pierced my heart in 1995 and changed the way I see everything because the spiritual eyes were no longer blind. A savior is someone who can do for you that you cannot do for yourself. The liberty to love the people of the world apart from the acts of people of the world takes a divine work of the heart beyond our natural capacity. To have what I have in such wondrous manner I can only celebrate with thankfulness to my Creator. Give thanks always…it’s the beginning of peace.
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