Artist Michael Flohr grew up in Lakeside in a blue-collar family who owned a local auto repairs shop. He began his journey in art in a peculiar way. With dyslexia, his parents set him up with a tutor that set his path in the art world, by tutoring him once a week for 30 minutes, then rewarded him by allowing him to paint with oils. His tutor from first grade until he went to El Capitan High School, was East County artist Mona Mills, whose murals can be seen in libraries throughout East County. Mills made her name for her visionary oil paintings and was named as one of San Diego County’s “Legends,” in a series she did through the San Diego County Libraries, promoting living legends in the county.
“Mona saved me,” said Flohr. “I would get up and she would tutor me with techniques in reading and math, and my reward was to get into actual oil painting. I did that all the way until high school. Mona Mills is amazing. I saw her a couple of years ago at the Rancho San Diego Library and she could not believe how my career has gone. It was really cool. She was my ultimate teacher.”
After graduating El Capitan in 1993, Flohr said he went to work for Barona Casino for a year, what students there called the “El Cap college.”
“I kept saying I was going to art school next semester in San Francisco,” he said. “One of my mangers tore up one of my sketches while I was on break and that pushed me over the edge, and I moved to San Francisco two weeks later.”
Flohr received his bachelor’s in fine art and illustration from the Academy of Art University. Art school was where Flohr met his wife, and three children later, they currently live in Rancho San Diego. Flohr is known for his impressionistic city landscapes, but his art career began differently than many.
“I wanted to have a background in illustration and right after art school I had an offer with Universal Studios and I turned it down to pursue fine art, which scared a lot of my family,” he said. “It turned out to be my best decision. Even the woman who hired me said that I was such a great fine artist, and she basically said working with them would ruin me.”
Flohr said that decision led to a period of suffering in making a living for a while, but while back in San Diego, he was asked to submit paintings at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, so his roommate rushed a couple of paintings to the exhibit.
“That was a big accolade and soon I had publishers calling me,” he said. “I had a big publisher who wanted my work and promised me money every month, a stipend. Then I had a couple who had a gallery in La Jolla. I decided to go with them, and it wound up being the right decision because the older publisher ended up going out of business. So, I have been with Crown Thorn Publishing with Ruth-Ann Thorn for 19 years now. Her gallery is Exclusive Collections in Solana Beach.”
Flohr said the lush vivid colors of oils drew him to the medium, loved to play with the mixture of paint thinner, chemicals and the setup of the oils. He said he loves the smells of oils as he paints.
“Now, every time I am painting live at a gallery, someone will come up to me and smell my oil paint and tell me that it reminds them so much of their dad or mom, who was an artist. It brings back memories. When I am long gone, I am sure my kids, they wills smell oil paint and it will remind them of their dad,” he said. “The beautiful colors of the oils, and that you can blend it, is the toughest medium you can use because it gets muddy and it does not dry fast and it moves around, but it has lasted for thousands of years so I know it is a good medium.”
Flohr is the official artist for Maker’s Mark Bourbon, and has done large commissions at its distillery, along with a large show there. He said Maker’s president Rob Samuels picked an American glass artist Dale Chihuly, and he was chosen as the American oil painter.
“I’m good friends with Rob Samuels of the Maker’s Mark family who saw one of my paintings at a gallery years ago, tracked my publisher down and found me,” he said. “There are plans, around next Christmas, where I will be painting a bottle of their bourbon. I am hoping that comes out.”
Flohr was also picked to paint for the Kentucky Derby, painting a series on racehorse American Pharoah, who won the American Triple Crown and Breeder’s Cup Classic in 2015.
But Flohr has a love for impressionistic landscapes—his favorite is painting night, rainy scenes in the city. And his collection has pieces from cities across the globe.
“Growing up in Lakeside, it did not rain as much,” he said. “But in San Francisco I fell in love with the rain because as I walked through the city, there were so many lights that the ground becomes a large mirror when it rains, and I fell in love with the reflections, the water, and the rain.”
Flohr said he has recently been working on more abstract landscapes and pieces, gathering a series of pieces as he tries to push himself to try something different.
“I might unveil one abstract at this show, but I am pushing myself in trying something different. There is something beautiful about an abstract painting. It is not as easy as many people think it might be,” he said.
Flohr has an upcoming show at Exclusive Collections Gallery in Solana Beach on April 30 and May 1 from 1-5 p.m. “Spring into Romance” is open to the public except for a private dinner reception on Saturday night.
“I will be revealing some paintings there,” he said. “The theme is spring, so there will be some romantic rainy spring scenes, my Paris scenes, my classic Michael Flohr “The Red Umbrella” piece.”
Flohr said many people ask him on how he gets inspired.
“I heard this quote that ‘inspiration is for amateurs.’ You must find a way to get inspired every day with painting if you want to do it as a living. If I only painted when I was totally inspired, we would be living in a small apartment. I love painting and I am always kind of inspired, but it is a job, and for me, an addiction. I am obsessed,” he said.
