Michelle Rouch Creates Art That Portrays ‘The Struggles Of Man And Aircraft’

By Maria Morrison

Ever since she was a young child, Michelle Rouch has been an artist. She always has felt the need to paint whatever is on her mind. At AirVenture, that's airplanes.

Michelle loves to work with different mediums, but sometimes she uses very expensive mediums. She is currently working on a piece painted with gold! She has several layers of 24 karat gold leaf paint over one of her display paintings, as well as the one that she is currently working on. Some of her works are commissioned and some are personally funded. She says that she loves to experiment with different styles. She showed me two different pieces, one with a gold sepia paint, and one in finely detailed pencil. They looked like they could be by different artists. Rouch says that it is a mental exercise to switch from pencil drawings to abstract gold paintings. In a single drawing, Rouch uses over 20 different pencils. In a painting, a dozen or more coats are applied.

Her most recent drawing is on display in Washington DC, and may become the newest addition to a currently undisclosed art museum. This painting was done to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, and two pilots that died in the war. She says that, although she never met these men, she feels that the story she has woven into this drawing is enough to create a personal relationship. Michelle takes pride in creating art that displays the stories and struggles of man and aircraft. She wants to show how we, as an aviation community, have gotten to this point in our development.

Michelle is displaying and creating pieces in the Lincoln booth, in front of the Ford tent. She specified that, despite the close proximity, her relation to Jack is merely phonetic.

FMI: www.rouch.com