Artist Mike Smith has spent a career doing what he loves

A lucky life

By Danielle Frost

January 15, 2013 12:00 am

Life

Mike Smith is represented by several galleries, including one in Hilton Head, S.C. Here, he poses with two pastels he is sending to the gallery. In the background are works in progress and a guitar from his Army days. Horses feature prominently in his work. "Horses embody everything that is cool about the earth," Smith said.

Smith keeps thank-you letters and drawings in his Camas studio. "The highlight of my career is kids saying my work helped them."

It takes Smith a matter of a few minutes to sketch a horse freehand with charcoals.

This poster, along with others, has been displayed in several children's hospitals and doctors' offices across the United States and Canada.

Mike Smith may be a world-famous artist, but his studio, crowded with different projects, thank-you notes, golf balls and a Specialized mountain bike suggest a man with a plethora of passions.And that’s pretty much how he’s lived his life. In fact, Smith never planned on becoming an artist. He considers himself lucky to have been in the right place at the right time on any number of occasions.

For example, during an art show in Hawaii, a representative of the Winn-Devon Art Group happened to see a pastel horse Smith had painted. He asked Smith if he’d be interested in turning it into a poster. That was back in the late 1980s. The poster has been displayed in waiting rooms at children’s hospitals around the world, with millions sold.

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