Michael Ferguson was born in 1958 in Seattle, Washington, where early experiences in nature, playing among driftwood on local beaches, shaped his lifelong engagement with visual art. Largely self-taught, he later studied at the Burnley School of Professional Art in Seattle under instructors including William Cumming of the Northwest School.

Early in his career, Ferguson worked as a full-time cartoonist for Boeing, but by the late 1980s he left this position to devote himself fully to fine art. For many years, his practice centered on landscape painting, both en plein air and in the studio, working primarily in a representational style with oils and acrylics, and periodically exploring linocuts and block printing.

Around 2002, influenced by personal life changes, his work shifted toward a more narrative and introspective approach, incorporating memory, imagination, and everyday human experiences. While his subject matter continues to include Pacific Northwest landscapes, it also embraces intimate, atmospheric scenes drawn from daily life.

Ferguson remains an active artist, exhibiting through galleries such as Fountainhead Gallery and continuing to work across painting, mixed media, and printmaking.