About me
Hi. I'm Mike Theuer.
I'm a professional portrait artist. I create pencil portraits and watercolor portraits from your photographs by hand. No computer imaging.
I have over thirty years art experience, most of that time spent teaching art at the Pennsylvania State University at University Park between 1994 and 2015. Though I officially retired from teaching in 2015, I snuck back again recently! And since 2007 I've been working full time in my current job as a portrait artist.
I spend my days painting and drawing from my home in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania U.S.A. When I can, I also show my art in pencil, watercolor, and oil paint at local Galleries. The rest of the time I direct chores, buy groceries, or drive one of my sons to school . . . because while my wife works as a middle-school counselor, I'm also the stay-at-home dad for my three boys!
As a young man I did eclectic things. After a Master's in Psychology from PSU in '89, for example, I worked several years as a therapist for troubled kids. And I also started a couple of businesses of my own.
As a kid I was introduced to art by my high-school art teacher, Bruce Bidwell. He taught me how to use different media which I quickly aimed at capturing nature, drawing my first pencil portrait from a photo and painting my first watercolor painting from a calendar, both artworks when I was just 16.
Today I've created over two thousand portraits. In each I try to make a striking resemblance. But I try not to make a portrait look smooth and blended like a photo. I feel if I wanted a photo, then I should use a camera. Instead I strive to make a portrait rough especially toward the edges of the paper. Except the eyes. The eyes I usually smooth and blend to look photographic hoping the contrast will draw your attention. To me the eyes are where the resemblance is.
• see a book I illustrated – "Nature in Horsemanship."
• read an interview I gave – CareerDecisionsMadeEasy.blogspot.com
• see me as a featured artist – Pencils.com