Although his professional life was anchored in the field of medical research, Michel has always had a passion for the arts, particularly painting and music.

After many years of training in life drawing a turning point in his artistic path came when he met the artist Pierre Séailles (1919 – 2007) in Paris in 1982.

Pierre was the last practitioner of the techiques of LAP, invented by his parents in the 1920s, and FLOTTÉ, developed by himself.  He agreed to entrust these techniques to Michel in the light of his evident interest in safeguarding them for the future.

PIerre warned him that others had already tried to master the techniques but had been discouraged by their complexity and the need for meticulous attention to detail.  Not only, in the case of FLOTTE, was the painting carried out on a microscopic film applied to the surface of water, but it was necessary to prepare the pigments themselves by hand as well as design and make mechanical devices both to apply the pigments to the film as well as to salvage the work from the surface of the water. It was here, however, that Michel’s professional experience in the laboratory was a key attribute.

Constantly intrigued by the multiple facets presented by the two techniques, Michel continues to explore the infinite possibilities of expression they offer, sometimes combining the two techniques, although they had originally been thought incompatible.

In addition to his own studio and workshop, Michel shares a studio with fellow artists for model-based life drawing work.