FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48”

Reply to FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:26:58 GMT

offby1@wandering.shop — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:26:58 GMT

@MichaelWhelan Is there any chance of these showing up in your print shop?

Reply to FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:05:10 GMT

grumpusnation@mastodon.social — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:05:10 GMT

@MichaelWhelan "Aboutness" is, of course, an interesting question. Canada's own Margaret Atwood said "authors [read 'artists'] are not authorities on their own work", so the onus is on each of us to actively interpret and understand a work, while artists can, of course, go on intuition, logic, purpose, and/or what just feels right. I mean, you couldn't ask Miles what "Kind of Blue" is "about", could you? Now I'm just imagining that answer…

Reply to FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:32:20 GMT

michaelwhelan@mastodon.art — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:32:20 GMT

EBB and FLOOD were done on faith. It didn’t matter if anyone—even myself—understood what they were about, they had to be made real. 4/4

Michael Whelan (@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art)

Attached: 1 image EBB (2000), Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” EBB and FLOOD were done on faith. It didn’t matter if anyone—even myself—understood what they were about, they had to be made real. I was having a conversation about my work with Betsy Wollheim, longtime friend and smart editor/publisher. She said, “What do you mean you don’t know what they are about? It’s been obvious to me from the first time I saw them.” 1/2 #art #fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism

Mastodon.ART (mastodon.art)

Reply to FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:31:28 GMT

michaelwhelan@mastodon.art — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:31:28 GMT

Some time afterwards, I did experience some particularly compelling waking dreams. I didn’t know what they were about, but I felt that I had to paint them. 3/4

FLOOD

Faced with the prospect of cancer surgery, I thought that while awash in pain killers I might at least experience some interesting dreams. Instead I found that the medications did exactly the oppos…

The Art of Michael Whelan (www.michaelwhelan.com)

Reply to FLOOD (2000)Acrylic on Canvas - 36” x 48” on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:30:40 GMT

michaelwhelan@mastodon.art — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:30:40 GMT

My net sum of interesting creative ideas while in the hospital was zero! It taught me a valuable lesson: creativity is linked to my reasoning and thought; interrupt the flow of thought artificially and the creative forces are negated altogether. 2/4