Mike Calascibetta is a life long watercolor artist. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Burbank, California as a child. Calascibetta grew up the California beach scene and in the Hollywood movie industry in the 1960s. Today, in an attempt to capture the color and light of traditional watercolors, he continues to expand his explorations of mixed media. He is primarily self- taught, though he studied at Otis Art Center briefly. Calascibetta has exhibited and painted on and off for the better part of his life. However, in 2007 he began a full time career as a painter. Over the last 10 years, he has developed a unique technique in which he blends digitally painted photographs and original water colors.
He has always painted in traditional media (primarily in watercolor) but when he saw some of the new digital work, he fell in love with digital photography and began experimenting with digital creation in the late 90s. Today he paints with digital photographs using traditional wet watercolors. He then blends the two mediums with digitally painted layers allowing him to create a unique look that is impossible to achieve with only traditional watercolors. The final product of this procedure is quite attractive and has made his work to be very popular with collectors. Calascibetta is very keen to detail and is often open to learning new techniques. That’s why he is a regular visitor to art museums and galleries to observe the works of other artists. He then picks what he thinks can help improve his work and keep it fresh.
