With music streaming from her garden studio in Snohomish, WA, artist Michelle Salazar stretches, paints and transforms canvas into color-rich, multi-textural odes to the physical strength of the human body and the weakness of the human heart.

Salazar grew up on Whidbey Island, attended Cornish College of the Arts, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art in 1996 from Western Washington University.

Borrowing from the Cowboy archetype she explores how humans cultivate a veneer of toughness to hide vulnerabilities. A close examination of her figurative work reveals a repetition of symbols and hidden text scratched directly into the canvas, giving each piece depth and complexity.

Her paintings are boldly honest and intimate never wavering from the artists pursuit of truth. Salazar has developed a repertoire of respected works. Much of the appeal is attributed to her ability to convey not only the tender and passionate sides of the heart, but also the concealed and flawed sides.