Paula 1996, Oil on Canvas, 29"x22"

James Michael Ostlund

"My interest lies in the arrangements encountered in our natural world. As my journey unfolds, I aspire to create paintings which are based on my personal experiences and which embody a sense of beauty and echo a common language that speaks within us all."

BIOGRAPHY

John Zech 1992, Oil on Canvas, 32"x23"

Ostlund was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His training in art began at age 14. He studied at the Hennepin Technical Center in Minneapolis for three years, then at the American Academy of Art in Chicago for another three years. In the years that followed, his work won numerous awards including Honorable Mention at the 1982 Adirondack National Exhibition of American Watercolors, Long Range Fund Award at the 1985 Midwest Watercolor Society Show, Best of Show Award in Watercolor at the 1986 Municipal Art League Exhibition in Chicago, and Honorable Mention at the 1987 Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art Gold Medal Show in Chicago. He taught drawing and painting at the American Academy of Art and at the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art.

In 1987, Ostlund traveled to Europe and made extensive studies of the Old Masters. Upon his return, he studied with Richard Lack at the Atelier Lack Studio of Fine Art in Minneapolis for four years. Atelier Lack is an apprentice program based on teaching methods of the Old Masters. In 1995, he moved to Italy where he taught at the Florence Academy of Art. During his European stay, he copied at major museums and painted under the influence of the Renaissance.

Garlic 1996, Oil on Canvas, 8"x9"

In 1997, Ostlund won the Best of Show Award in the American Society of Portrait Artists International Annual Competition. In 1998, he and his wife, Michele Mitchell, were chosen by the Washington Society of Portrait Artists as leaders in their craft. Their work received the Best of Show and President's Awards and will be hung in the U.S. Capitol. They were also a joint recipient of the Best of Show Award from the American Society of Portrait Artists.

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