Steven Mikel, a Celebration, FL resident, has been painting his entire life. In fact, one of his earliest memories is that of watching his Grandma Mangus paint Christmas cards in her living room. Throughout school, Steve spent most of his time in the art rooms drawing, painting or developing photographs he had taken. Steve had a quirk for looking for unique art. He looked for motion, mystery, emotion, and how he could somehow capture that on film or paper and paint. This was his personal challenge. He would study the paintings of Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and the photographs of Ansel Adams and be inspired, yet at the same time become disheartened with his own progress. As he got older, he discovered that being an artist is not an "accomplished state", but more specifically a “state of mind”.  As one practices medicine, Steve has learned to enjoy practicing art.  He has even incorporated a very unusual medium into his pieces with a unique line of "dark roast" watercolors painted solely with coffee.

Another facet of Steve’s approach and artistic style is his relationship to analytical processes.  Growing up the son of a Purdue trained Mechanical Engineer turned Systems Analyst, exposed him to computers and programming from the early days of CPM and DOS and affected how he views the world around him. Layers of color, contrast, line, space and forms become small graphic puzzles to be analyzed, solved and presented in order to reveal or express the deeper emotional vantage point.

It is this blend of analytical and the emotional that gives him an uncommon perspective.
“Painting is a window into the soul of the seen." (Steve Mikel)