Artist & Entrepreneur

Meet Michaela

I was born in Sydney, Australia, and was painting before I could walk. My favorite childhood photo of myself is holding a paintbrush standing at an easel, about age 5, wearing a plastic poncho with “I am an artist” printed on it. I still remember that it was lime green plastic with black writing on it, I got it at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and that I was using water based paint made from powder in royal blue, red, and yellow on newsprint paper.

I graduated from Sydney TAFE with a certificate of Fine Arts many years ago and have dabbled in many different styles of art and crafts since then. In January 2015, I bumped into an awesome YouTube video with mixed media art, and that was it. My art practice became my passion and favorite past time.

I’m a lifelong learner and love to try new techniques and mediums. My primary inspiration and constant color palette is Australian Mother Nature, her color palette, flora and fauna all make my heart sing with joy. I also love the Steampunk genre, including grunge, so aspects of that style also often sneak into my work. I specialize in assemblage which is three dimensional embellishments added to a two dimensional artwork.

I began showing my art in 2017 and have never looked back. In 2020, I took the major step of creating this website and my social media sites to begin publicizing my art works, adventures, and lessons. I was absolutely honored and delighted to be selected as a member of The Crafter’s Workshop International Design Team for 2020-22, and really enjoyed creating some fun and educational projects and posts.

In 2022, I completed the Spring Immersion 2022 Creative Entrepreneurship course, opened a Spoonflower textile and fabric design store, opened a Society 6 arts and gifts store, and opened a profile with Rover.com for house and pet sitting. In July 2022, I launched my virtual creative services and I look forward to growing my business and entrepreneurial efforts more in the coming years.

I was introduced to Michaela by means of a beautiful watercolor painting of a calico cat. Michaela painted this cat for a series of thank you cards she was making for the Topeka Street Dog Coalition team. I was blown away by her talent, and quickly learned her skillset went far beyond watercolor. I have since had the pleasure of working with Michaela on creating social media content for The Street Dog Coalition. She has been a pioneer of our social media team and her creativity and professionalism are complemented by her compassion and positivity. She’s a hard worker and self starter and I feel very fortunate that our paths crossed when they did.  

— Katrina Weschler
Executive Director
The Street Dog Coalition

Michaela is a breath of fresh air to work with! Her caring nature makes it easy for others to connect with her while she teaches the process of her creative skills. I can always count on her to be prepared, on time, and ready to engage her students when she’s teaching classes at the NOTO Arts Center.

— Staci Dawn Ogle
Program & Communications Coordinator | NOTO Arts Center