Michael J. Liebhaber was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, but  moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1960 when he was a kid and he hasn't looked back. He says, "Tucson was still part of the wild, wild, west back then. I spent most of my formative years in the desert with coyotes, chasing snakes, scorpions, and rabbits, crawling into abandon mines looking for treasure, and hanging with the occasional old time cowboy (with respect to Dave Berry, I'm really not making this up)."

He lived most of his life in Arizona and Southern California with a few other places sprinkled in for good measure. Since junior high school he spent most of his productive life painting, sculpting, parenting, and surfing; the rest I've wasted. He added, "My artwork is influenced by the vibrant hues of the American southwest, the tumultuous politics of the sixties, and everyone who has wandered in and out of my life."

I am taking an artist's vacation, painting around Europe. I'm financing it
by working on a cruise ship, managing their internet cafe. I keep busy with
that job and travel sketching. I can't do oils on the ship, but I take my
sketchbook and watercolors everywhere (I don't have a camera). All but my
most recent sketches are posted on my website. I started in the Baltic Sea
in July and am currently in the Western Mediterreanean. Countries I've
visited, and sketched, are Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia,
Holland, Denmark,
Belgium, Norway, Ireland, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Italy,
and Monaco.

Education History: Mike has his MFA in Painting at Western Connecticut State University. He has a Ph.D. in Child Language from the University of Kansas.

More of Mike's work can be viewed at www.mjliebhaber.com and he can be reached at mike@mjliebhaber.com

Approaching Colorado Springs