Montgomery County
Painting – From Keystrokes to Brushstrokes
If the name Mike Handley sounds familiar, it probably is. Black Belt residents might recognize Handley’s newspaper byline from the 1980s, when he was editor of the award-winning Sumter County Journal in York, Alabama. Outdoorsmen might have seen it in numerous national hunting and fishing publications.
Mike left York in 1990 to publish a hook-and-bullet tabloid before accepting the position as outdoors editor for the daily newspaper in Montgomery. In 1998, he joined Buckmasters as editor of Rack magazine.
It wasn’t until 2001, following his first trip to South Africa, that Mike decided to try his hand at painting. His first canvas depicted a group of AIDS orphans from Johannesburg who sang and danced beside the campfire for a group of teary-eyed North Americans.
Since then, he’s taken numerous prizes at shows and exhibited at galleries across Alabama and Mississippi. In addition to painting wildlife and vintage automobiles, he also paints portraits of Southern writers and blues musicians.
The now retired magazine editor lives in Montgomery with his wife, Gita, a former writer, editor, and college writing coach. You can view all of his paintings at www.facebook.com/mhandley