Collection: Mike Jackson Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Mike Jackson was born in Manchester, England in 1962. With a unique and quirky style, he paints sweet and memorable characters that are sure to enchant any viewer. Despite his childhood interest in art, Mike Jackson felt that he needed a career to "fall back on." and so Mike Jackson worked as a butcher for a period of time, but eventually decided to explore the more artistic path of a graphic designer. He taught himself graphic design on his computer, and landed a job in the realm of commercial art. Mike Jackson worked in commercial art for twelve years, all the while developing his own style of illustration.

Mike Jackson, at first, painted primarily in watercolors, but was convinced to try acrylics following the suggestion of a friend. Jackson has since cultivated a repertoire of characters for his quirky paintings. Remaining true to his proud northern roots, Jackson credits LS Lowry, a friend of his Grandfather's as being foremost among his artistic inspirations, yet away from mainstream artistic influences Jackson confides that many of his concepts and ideas which later become fully fledged works of art do in fact emerge whilst he’s engaged in the mundane. Day to day happenings such as driving for example, when thoughts about quirky little images often slip into his head. Jackson grows those simplistic, rudimentary ideas in his studio, routinely drawing hundreds of little sketches, from which he develops two, possibly three of what he considers the best, and evolve through phases to become the original paintings and limited edition prints that we know and love. Mike Jackson claims that his art is influenced by L.S. Lowry, his grandfather's friend, and says that most of his inspiration comes from his family and the memories of him and his wife as teenagers. Always drawn to the quirky and offbeat, Jackson is often struck with an idea while driving down the road in Somerset, where he currently resides.