I’m the Artist, Michael Kane (no, not the actor) and I reside in Newton County Arkansas with my wife Vickie. I have been married to Vickie for over 40 years. We are the parents of seven and grandparents to about ten.
I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Moody Bible Institute, the University of Tennessee, and North Arkansas College...and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!
Started drawing as a child, and sold my first painting in grade school to a teacher and my career began...sort of. While in high school in New Jersey I won an art competition and my work was displayed at the public library for a year. Thinking commercial art was the direction I wanted to go, I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and studied Visual Communications. Then sensing a leading from God, attended Moody Bible Institute to study Bible theology. That’s where Vickie and I met. We were married and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee.
In Tennessee I answered an ad for caricature and portrait artists “no experience necessary” for the 1982 World's Fair. It was a great experience to learn speed drawing . . . and it paid!
After that I started His Light Studios back in the 1990s, to do commercial art and graphic design. At that time graphic design was bringing in more business (and more money) than illustration, so I gravitated that direction to pay the bills . . . how responsible of me! Now after making a living for many years in the graphic design world, I’ve decided to get back to what I enjoy most, pencils, pens and paint.
Currently I’m a Director/Graphic Artist at a local non-profit helping to share the Good News around the world, and artist is the side hustle.
Creating art is therapeutic, satisfying, and sometimes frustrating. The satisfaction of completing a project successfully, or bringing pleasure to someone else through gifts or commissioned work is very fulfilling. I work mostly in graphite and acrylic paint but enjoy experimenting with different mediums and surfaces.
God, the “His” in His Light Studios gave the talent, it is up to each individual to use it or lose it. So if you want to do art, or anything for that matter, work at it every day. I want to be an encouragement to others and point them to The Creator.