Fernando Micheli

I am a long time resident of Laguna Beach, CA and a member of LPAPA, AIS, and CAC. I was born in Fiano, Lucca, Italy and immigrated to the U.S. in 1955. I grew up in San Francisco and upon completing High School in Watsonville, California, I attended school in Italy for two years. This allowed me the time to reconnect with family there, travel and earn my Liceo degree in Italian, needed to pursue Art and Architecture there. I eventually longed to return to the U.S. and obtained my B.A. in Landscape Architecture at U.C. Berkeley, College of Environmental Design in 1977. I was licensed and practiced Landscape Architecture and Urban Design for 37 years and was responsible for design of many high profile projects until my retirement in 2014. In June of 2014, I made a life changing decision to pursue my desire to become a painter and artist. I focused on the immediacy of Plein Air painting and Representational art, capturing the beauty of California as well as in my world travels. I love painting Plein Air and consider it an extremely enriching avocation which has turned into a second career that I am very passionate about. I am particularly proud of mentoring grade school students locally through the LPAPA Plein Air Project, headed by Jeff Sewell throughout the year. This last year we mentored local school children in the joy of painting Plein Air. I teach indoor classes at the Sawdust Festival and have Plein Air classes with local adult students as well.