Michael Deeb’s Trip Back in Time
Cathy Belben 

Bellingham artist Michael Deeb works his magic in the converted second story bedroom of a Craftsman home in Happy Valley. Amid the apartment complexes that surround his studio, and the steady buzz of cars approaching Sehome High School and WWU, Deeb steps back in time for a few hours every day to recreate a past he idealizes in a style of art not often seen anymore.

Deeb is known in Whatcom and Skagit County for his amazing colored pencil art—images which, upon first glance, are rendered with such incredible, realistic detail that they appear to be photographs. Many of these colored pencil works, which feature local scenes such as the Whatcom Museum of Art and older buildings around Bellingham, are on display in local businesses. Several are exhibited at Fairhaven Realty and Dirty Dan Harris’s Restaurant, and others have been exhibited at Colophon Café, Blue Horse Gallery, Nimbus Restaurant, and numerous other locations.                                                                                                                        

Deeb’s artistic career began early. As a ten-year-old in Seattle, he was selected to participate in an elite art program for children on the basis of his portfolio. The Music and Art Foundation Creative Children’s Creative Art School met on Saturdays to teach talented young artists, an experience Deeb is grateful for, noting only that he’s disappointed the organization kept the artists’ work. “People just have to take my word for it that I was a child prodigy,” he laughs.  He received his first commission at age 16, took art classes at Burlington-Edison High School, and graduated from BEHS in 1972. He later earned a degree in art education at WWU, but considers his most valuable educational experience the training he received in 1999 during a ten-day workshop with artist Joseph McGurl in Boston. “It was one of the highlights of my art career,” Deeb says.

Recently, Michael Deeb has shifted his style and focus to concentrate on a series of oil paintings. Inspired by artists such as Maxfield Parrish, Winslow Homer, and Edward Hopper, Deeb has begun painting images of statue-like women draped in cloths, reclining amid ruins in the outdoors—pieces that will remind viewers of Greek or Roman scenes. This “neo-classical” style typically features people like those in Deeb’s art—calm, reposed figures in static poses, but, Deeb says, is not typically seen in the Northwest.  Nevertheless, he’s long had a desire to experiment with this style. “Since I was 18 or 19, I’ve liked the themes, the idealized world, and the painting technique, which is serene and fresh,” he says. “I like the technical precision, too,” he adds, noting that he lays out the paintings according to the Golden Rectangle, which is thought to be on of the most visually pleasing geometric shapes.

In the coming months, Deeb hopes to complete a series of four paintings, working about eight hours a day for up to 200 hours, although Michael acknowledges that he’s never worked in this large scale before, and the work might take longer than he anticipates. “It’s also a matter of keeping the confidence level up for me and the models,” he adds.

Eventually, Deeb hopes, his works will be exhibited at local or Seattle galleries. “It might be a little trickier with these pieces because they’re so large,” he says. Hopefully, placing them won’t be difficult—the bold colors, serene images, and atypical style are a treat for viewers, and offer a glimpse at the remarkable versatility of this talented painter.

 Cathy Belben’s work has appeared in Fourth Corner View, The Bellingham Weekly, Bicycle Paper, and numerous other publications. She lives, reads, writes, and bikes in Fairhaven.