Born and continuing to live in Provo, Utah, Michael Coleman is a prominent Southwestern landscape painter in a traditional style and is much influenced by 19th-century painters Henry Farny, Thomas Moran and George Inness and by 19th and 20th century animal painter, Carl Rungius. Coleman is known for his landscapes of rich colors in a combination of realism and atmospheric styles, often with animals depicted and the suggestion of natural harmony between the artist, the animal, and the wide world of nature.

He grew up fishing and hunting and seemed always to want to be an artist. He majored in fine arts at Brigham Young University, and then traveled widely for subject matter.