Michelle Snead

North Carolina Portrait Artist

Portraiture - A Life Long Passion Beginning at an Early Age

"As an artist I am privileged to present the splendor, the harmony and the mystery of God's canvas."

Michelle has been a professional artist for the past 39 years, painting hundreds of beautiful portraits, landscapes, and still lifes over the course of her career. Most of Michelle’s work hangs in homes around her native North Carolina and adjacent states; however, her paintings are now displayed in farther locations around the United States including Maine, California, and Florida. Her corporate clients include the federal court system, churches, hospitals, board rooms, and businesses, especially in the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill area.

Whether collaborating with the clients who commission her directly or with those who work through agencies, Michelle treats each person with equal attention throughout the entire process. Combining attention to detail with her artistic vision makes each painting unique. For twenty-six years, Portraits South represented Michelle, but now Portraits Associates and New South Portraits market her work. Featured articles in Wakefield Living, the Henderson Dispatch, Luxury Living, the News and Observer, and the Rocky Mount Telegram have highlighted Michelle’s talents. Additionally, she continues her affiliation with the Portrait Society of America, being a founding member.

On a personal note, Michelle began painting in oils by the time she was twelve, and it became her passion. After graduating from Wake Forest University with a degree in English, she was a high school English teacher for five years; however, her love of art remained, and she concentrated on improving her artistic skills to become a professional artist in 1985. Desiring further credentials, Michelle received an additional degree in fine art from Meredith College in 1997.

When Michelle is not working in the visual arts, she devotes a substantial portion of her time to music. After volunteering as director of the Chancel Choir of North Raleigh Presbyterian Church for over twenty-two years and leading a group of singers to perform in Carnegie Hall, she “retired” in 2013. Her other interests include gardening, photography, providing care for others as a deacon in her church, exercising, and spending time with family.

Transcribing Moments of Lives to Canvas

A few words from Michelle...

I love to paint, watching life emerge from a blank canvas......and I love to meet new people, discovering who they are and what is important to them. Painting portraits naturally evolved as a way to combine these two interests. My career brings me joy and personal satisfaction, but it also touches other people’s lives. The paintings capture a moment which people simply don’t want to forget. They are visual reminders of a segment in time which has special significance, a way of saying, “This person is important to me.”

I Loved working with the Walters Sisters

I understand all these feelings. I have two grown sons, and I know how precious each stage is. There are times when you gaze at your child and realize that their innocence and pure adoration of you won’t last forever. You want time to stop. Later, you see your teenager on the brink of adulthood, brimming with enthusiasm for all that the future holds. You might want to capture THAT moment. All portraits are not family paintings which hang in your home. There are public portraits, and these are the times when you bestow a great honor on leaders in business or the community for their many contributions. You want an image which captures their wisdom, intelligence and vision....something which goes beyond a photograph.

When you commission a portrait, you’ve opened the door to your life and allowed me to be a part of it. I want the process to be enjoyable, and I do everything that I can to put you at ease. You should feel free to ask me any question which comes to mind so that each step along the way is perfectly clear. Throughout the whole process, you are involved in a significant manner so that you don’t doubt whether or not the finished product will be just right. I want you to have faith that I will go the extra mile to give my very best.

My goal is to capture the essence of the individual, but I’m simultaneously thinking about how the finished product needs to be a work of art which will stand the test of time. I concentrate on the lighting, how the colors must harmonize, how compositional elements must lead the eye around the painting, how I need to create a mood. Though I’m using my photographic references and sketches, I must determine what to add and what to leave out so that there is a living breathing presence on the canvas. The process is demanding but ever so gratifying.

I love the hugs that I get when I present the finished portrait. My new friends send me lovely letters which I read and then tuck away. They mail me Christmas cards giving updates on their children. I consider them a part of my extended family. On the back of each painting, I include a Latin phrase, “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” which means “To the Greater Glory of God”. I am forever thankful for the talent which I’ve been given, and I feel blessed that I can pursue my passion which then becomes a treasured part of other people’s lives.