Michael Ward started his artistic career with pen and ink renderings of historical architecture. In 1980 he began painting in gouache, then in acrylics based on photographs he has taken over the years, primarily of Southern California. Though it was never his intention to depict nostalgic scenes, many of the images he has painted have disappeared or been radically altered. Drawing inspiration from Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Richard Estes and Vermeer, Ward is interested in depicting the mystery of the ordinary; the workaday world we live in without seeing until we are forced to focus upon it, as in a painting.

A Southern California Artist, Michael Ward has exhibited at the Huntington Beach Art Museum, Orange County Biennal and the "Made in California" exhibitions at the Brea Cultural Center in 2007, 2006, and 1998. He has been a Finalist in the Artist Magazine Annual Competition in both landscape (2007) and still life (2005). Michael Ward is a successful Art Director and Graphic Designer whose clients include ViewSonic, Toshiba, Westec Security, Edison Security, among many others.