Harry Daniel Michael was born of  American parents on December 14th,  1953 on the tiny Dutch island of Aruba.  Located just fifteen miles off the coast of Venezuela,  Aruba is what dreams are made of.   From its rocky windswept cliffs to turquoise waters, to bleach white sand beaches,  this tiny gem of the Caribbean was destined to produce an artist as unique as itself. However,  there are no tales of this baby being born with brush in hand.   He was too busy in the warm sun exploring the many wonders the island held in store.  At a mere 20x5 miles,  Aruba was home to what was once the world's largest oil refinery,  the Lago Oil and Transport Company.   Harry's father worked there 17 years as an Assistant Supervising Engineer.  His mother stayed active raising Harry, his sister and four brothers.   This blend of influences created an atmosphere which inspired Harry to begin drawing,  but it wasn't until age seven that Harry's parents began to take notice of their son's artistic ability.   Harry's teachers were constantly sending him home for etching on desktops.  As his notebooks turned into sketchbooks,  his parents brought him to the attention of Pablo Pandellis,  a local painter,  who began to instruct the youngster in the art of drawing.   These lessons consisted of lazy afternoons spent etching in charcoal and pencil.  Pandellis would occasionally peek over Harry's shoulder and offer expert advice.  Sadly,  these lessons came to an abrupt end when Pandellis died of a heart attack during Harry's sixth lesson.
 
 

Harry gravitated to experimenting in oils,  with the sweet smells of turpentine and linseed oil acting as a painter's aphrodisiac.  The first paintings at age ten reflect the natural settings of Aruba and the rugged native fishermen,  banana boats in the harbor,  and the knarled look of a divi-divi tree silhouetted against a rocky landscape.   "Aruban Divi-Divi"  painted in oils at age 10>
At age 12 he sold his first painting, depicting the fishing boats in harbor with the day's catch still in the nets.

"Church at Sitges" Oil on Canvas,  1971

In 1966,  Harry and his family moved to north central Florida and settled in Gainesville, a small college town.  By age 14 he had sold several more paintings and found himself with an eager group of patrons.   At age 16,  following a prodigious output,  Harry was able to finance his own trip to Europe and spent nearly one year traveling through Germany, France, Switzerland,  Holland and Monaco.  He lived for a time in Sitges, Spain, on the mediterranean coast,  where he painted continuously until the local police forced him to leave.  It seems a local ordinance prohibited painting on the beach,   a favored spot for the young artist.    Eventually,  Harry returned to the United States as a young man brimming with tales of adventure and excitement.

Now back in Florida,  Harry participated in outdoor art shows around the state and at age 19 joined a traveling artists caravan called the California Professional Artists Society. This unique group of 45 artists and their families traveled eleven months out of the year to 38 major cities to exhibit daily inside large shopping malls. Harry's ability to paint serious detailed compositions in front of milling crowds gained incredible exposure from the over one million people who visited the shows during the two years he was a member.

During his early twenties,  he plunged into surrealism,  apparently under the influence of Salvador Dali.  While Harry's style and technique showed a remarkable resemblance,   this genre was not enough to satisfy the young artist's thirst for his own style.  During this time, he was commissioned to produce posters for the Great Southern Music Hall,  a Gainesville concert venue.   He conceived the promotional artwork for performers such as B.B. King,  Labelle,  Melissa Manchester,  Cheech & Chong and Steve Martin.

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