Baroque Style Oil Painting

      My name is Meir Levinger. I live and work in the Seattle, WA, and I paint and teach Oil Painting. This web page reflects my professional background as an artist and presents a sample of my artwork.

      I was born in Israel and lived there, in Jerusalem, most of my life. In 1996 I immigrated to the U.S. and spent about 12 years as a software engineer in the Silicon Valley, dedicating my little free time to painting and expanding my knowledge in the methods of the Renaissance and the Baroque. I became a U.S. citizen in 2005. In March 2009 I moved to Seattle, WA, where I spend my full time to painting in the style of the great masters of the 15th to 18th centuries.

     I don't have any formal art education but I had a very good teacher back in Israel who taught me for several years the secrets of painting in the methods of the greatest names in the history of art. What I didn't learn from him, I keep studying by myself by searching in old books, visiting art museums and running my own experiments.

      Art is for me a way of life. I did my software engineering in the past as an artist and I do my art today as an engineer. sounds like a divided personality?.... maybe. But wasn't Leonardo doing the same?

     In order to achieve a high artistic quality in my work, I hold myself under a very strict discipline and restrain myself from taking any shortcuts. I found out a long time ago that in art the seemingly easy route leads to a dead end. So I stretch my own canvases, cook my own sizing glue and my gesso; I mix my powders, my mediums and my varnishes. I try to make as few mistakes as possible and plan ahead every move.