The Downsizing Doula

California artist Miguel Dominquez. Largest piece titled “dry perch”, 21 x 17.5. The smaller piece is titled “front view”, 12 x 15. Miguel Dominguez was born in El Paso, Texas in 1941. When he was eight years old, his family moved to the Salinas Valley. Growing up in a rural setting fostered his appreciation for open spaces, rolling hills, and trees – all of which he is still fond of portraying in his work. Pursuing his childhood love of drawing, Domingues studied art for two years at Hartnell College in Salinas before enrolling at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Four months later, he was drafted. After his tour of duty, he married his high school sweetheart, Alexandra, and began work as an Oakland-based cartographer, a position he enjoyed for five years. Meanwhile, he continued to practice his art and develop his own dry-brush style. In 1971 Miguel left map-making and began painting full-time. He was juried into the Carmel Art Association in 1973. Dominguez’s work is now widely acclaimed and collected throughout the world. He attributes some of his influences as a painter to “the landscapes of George Innes, Childe Hassam, and Willard Metcalf, the figurative paintings of John Singer Sargent and the watercolors of J.M. William Turner.” Feature articles about him have appeared in three national publications (The Artist’s Magazine, American Artists, and Southwest Art).