Painted by Michelangelo on the vast ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, "The Creation of Adam" is one of the world's largest and most well-known masterpieces. And Monet's "Water Lilies" take up dozens of feet of wall space in the museums in which portions of the 250-piece series reside.
But bigger isn't always better. It's something local artist Mickelle Farnsworth discovered after years of making art.
Growing up, Farnsworth was exposed to all the traditional mediums in her school art classes, but took a particular liking to watercolor. Her childhood family friend, Sally, gave her painting lessons once a week where they listened to show tunes and Farnsworth learned new techniques.
She thought about studying art in college at Brigham Young University, but earned a degree in landscape management instead while continuing to make art as a hobby. After encountering miniature art shows in Provo and an art gallery specializing in tiny works in Washington D.C., and finding herself inspired by the unique medium, Farnsworth decided to try her hand at making small-scale paintings.
"I've always had an affinity for mini things," she says. "So I said 'You know what? I want to see if I can do this!'"
Since beginning her foray into the tiny art world in 2020, she's created more than 450 1-inch-by-1-inch designs and gained plenty of recognition via her Instagram (@micks.art.goods), where she chronicles her artistic process and shows off what she's working on from day to day.
Her first series of paintings depicted various national parks and gained significant attention on Instagram during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, she's painted mini city skylines, animals, birth month flowers, galaxies, food, houseplants and other themed series.
Farnsworth says she never worries about running out of ideas and is always working on a new set of mini paintings, most recently sharing her progress on six Spokane-based designs including the Parkade and the Garbage Goat.
"I've always got a couple different series in the works in my mind," she says. "I wanted to do my tiny food series for over a year before I finally did it. I've wanted to do cat and dog breeds forever, so that will come soon enough."
Just like her art, Farnsworth's studio is tiny as well.
Tucked in the downstairs laundry room of her South Hill home, Farnsworth says the space works perfectly for her and is quite fitting given the scale of her art.
The walls are decorated with small prints from local artist Nicole Hauge, a neon sign that reads "Tiny Art" and a tiny wooden shelf on which some tiny paintings reside.
"I don't really need that much space," she says. "A tiny studio for tiny art!"
After years of primarily painting mini art, she now prefers small-scale painting to more traditional sizes.
"I'm kind of a perfectionist," she says. "But an impatient perfectionist. So the tiny art is perfect for me because I can get something done in one sitting and also feel like I get all the details perfectly how I want. I don't think I could do big at this point because I would get so caught up in the little details that it would just drown me."
Each painting takes about an hour and a half for Farnsworth to complete and each series — which can range from six pieces to more than 60 — takes about two to four weeks. She doesn't use anything special to make the tiny paintings, just regular watercolor paper, a small palette, gouache paint and a set of super-thin paintbrushes.
For those looking to snag one of her petite paintings, Farnsworth drops new series on her website (micksartgoods.com) every so often and also attends various local art markets throughout the year.
Along with her miniature art and studio, Farnsworth also runs a tiny art nook located at the corner of 34th and Pittsburg on Spokane's South Hill. Similar to how you might grab an interesting read from a Little Free Library, the Tiny Art Nook is filled with free tiny art ripe for the taking.
"I have a lot of stock that I'm trying to get through all the time," she says. "So I have a lot of seconds — pieces of my art that are a little messed up, have tiny flaws, or that I just can't sell for one reason or another. I didn't just want to throw it away, so I found a free little library someone was selling on Facebook Marketplace and fixed it up."
The door opens to reveal a miniature version of an art gallery complete with drawers, hooks and shelves. Along with her own art, Farnsworth's son contributes pieces to the collection. She also accepts submissions from all over the world via a P.O. box. All mediums are accepted as long as a piece is 4-by-4 inches or smaller.
MICK'S ART GOODS
micksartgoods.com
Instagram: @micks.art.goods
TINY ART NOOK
Instagram: @tinyart.nook
On occasion, Farnsworth will set up fun "events" within the Tiny Art Nook and announce it on a separate Instagram page, @tinyart.nook.
"I just did three weeks of 'the food nook' where it was filled with food-themed art," she says. "Or I'll do 'the spook nook' for Halloween with all spooky art. It's so fun because other local artists will come and contribute, it's really neat."
Farnsworth often gets asked if she'll do tiny art forever, and to that, she shrugs her shoulders. She's flirted with the idea of making tiny linocut prints, tiny oil paintings and even tiny pottery.
"I really love tiny art," she says. "I think it's a good fit for me." ♦
