Abstract designs

One of my favorite crafty ways to pass time... making little designs out of cut paper. I love creating each piece as its own identity, and then arranging all the pieces to fit together. Although they all stand alone just fine.

Cutting, arranging, overlapping, thinking, gluing, flipping, switching, observing, turning and then... Yes! Oh wait, no that piece should go before that one. Ok. This is it. Yup.  

This feels right.

 

The process goes something like that. It's all really therapeutic. And Beautiful!




-Mel

Thank You Joel E.

When I come across a name I don't know, or someone I just want to learn more about, I google them. It's nice having so much information right at my google-happy fingertips. So one day I was wondering what people saw when they googled me. If anyone googles me. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the hiring process nowadays... for candidates to have a clean background after being properly googled. I googled myself and noticed my art show (Layers of Vanity that was up in SF back in March) came up on Yelp. Weird because I had no idea it was on yelp. So I clicked on the link (Yelp Review) and lo and behold an awesome visitor wrote a review on my show that left me oh-so-warm inside.

Thank You, Joel E!




 Happy Googling
-Mel

Sold!

Wrapped up these little gems and sent them off. I can't wait to see these paintings hanging up in their new homes. It's a beautiful thing to be able to share my work with others. I feel so appreciated!

Time to create some new paintings .:. new beginnings

-Mel

Here's what you missed

The opening reception for my Layers of Vanity series was a success! My paintings were glowing on white walls, I was surrounded by amazing people, the art conversations were rich, and there were sweet treats to eat. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out, and to those that tried but couldn't quite get there! If you haven't been out to the show, good news, it'll be up through the month of April. No excuses ;)

The evening of Thursday, March 7th went something like this...

Started the evening off pretty worked up... walking around frantically and making phone calls apparently. The goody table is well laid out though! I made oreo truffles and red velvet cake balls. Another indulgence of mine aside from shoes, make-up, etc. I thought it was fitting. Yum!

My sister sent my flowers! She's the best.

What? Two of my best friends from New York are here!? I was a puddle.

BEST SURPRISE EVER! I absolutely adore these girls.

The evening got hot. There was such great energy. The feedback I was getting was awesome. It was nice watching people do the "art gallery dance" (getting close and moving back from my paintings while investigating what was going on).

I was able to catch up with friends I haven't seen in way too long.

Mich is standing in front of the painting she bought! Army of Lipsticks will be in good hands.

My guy, Brett. I cannot even begin to describe the behind-the-scenes work he did to make this night a success. Thank you!

I wouldn't be here without the rents. I appreciate everything they do for me. They traveled all the way from New York to show support! Now that's true love <3

The End

-Mel

Layers of Vanity: A series of feminine-touched still life paintings

So I painted a whole bunch of make-up and jewelry... what does it all mean? I have nothing against the viewer coming up with their own interpretation of my work, however, a little background info couldn't hurt.

Take what you want, and leave the rest:

Let's Talk, 11"x14", oil on canvas

People express so much through the way they carry themselves. A person's image means a lot in our society, and my paintings address the dimensions of a facade. Appearances can reflect our feelings just as easily as they can be false extensions of ourselves.

The Layers of Vanity still life series focuses on objects used to hide or accentuate certain aspects of people.

Forms of text are included throughout my paintings which help foster internal conversations between the viewer and the painting. The content of the writing is a mix of my own thoughts, the names of the product colors, or the endless promises presented by magazine ads of transforming hags into beauties with the spray of a perfume, or swipe of a lipstick, etc. Bits of conversation I have had with friends about how they feel wearing make-up and getting dolled-up also found a way into my paintings.

My application of paint varies from thick and cakey, to flat and fine, mimicking the different ways of applying make-up. Bright, fun colors are found throughout my paintings, as are calm and muted colors. These contrasts parallel the many reasons people decide to wear objects of vanity.

My work is not to force a one-sided opinion regarding make-up, jewelry, shoes, and other material items. Some of the things in my paintings are used to alter perceptions. Depending on who is using them, the objects can also be a means of emphasizing what is already present. Conditional to the viewer, my still life paintings can be seen as a celebration of expression through dressing-up. As a whole, my paintings bring consciousness to what is habitual for some people. When you dress your lips in "Euphoria" is this a form of expression or a desire to be perceived in a certain way? My light and colorful palette, simple compositions, and hints of writing keep things lighthearted but promote thoughtfulness.




-Mel

Installing the Show

The "Layers of Vanity" show was installed on Friday, March 1st, 2013. It went something like this:

After double-checking to make sure my paintings were all signed (sometimes it slips my mind), I gathered them all up... in the living room.

We packed up the good old Jeep Cherokee and drove into the city. We live on the East Bay so the drive was short and sweet. We arrived at the gallery, quickly unloaded the goods, and began arranging my paintings on the lovely empty white gallery walls.

Trust me, this was harder than it looks. Everything needed to be just right!

Next, we measured. We nailed. We hammered. We measured some more. And then we were graced by the presence of Abigail VanCannon, a fellow artist friend. Six hands are better than four. The show was up in no time.

Ta-Da!

Come by and check the show out this Thursday evening at 5:30pm at The Cannery (Suite 104) in San Francisco. There will be a couple shows up in the area, so you'll definitely be getting your art-fix in.

-Mel

Solo Exhibition

The time has come!

My first solo exhibition will be happening in March at Gallery 104 at The Cannery in San Francisco. The Cannery will be featuring my Layers of Vanity series.

-Mel

Come out and enjoy some art!

-Mel

In-progs

 -Mel

In-progs

-Mel

My new inspiration: Candy!

I've always had a big sweet tooth. Luckily, I'm pretty good at controlling my sugar intake... sort of, but it wasn't hard to draw inspiration from one of my favorite places to pass time. The candy store. In this case it was Powell's Sweet Shoppe.

-Mel

The Spring Show

If you haven't been out to the Academy of Art University 2012 Spring Show yet then what are you waiting for!? It's an awesome showcase of the ridiculous talent at the Academy from all the Art and Design departments. My shoes piece (which you've all seen before) is being shown there!

 

-Mel

Man in the Mirror

I started to work on another reflection piece but on a much smaller sized canvas that I've been becoming familiar with. This is the third painting that I've done on a 12"x40" and I'm absolutely loving this size! So much more interesting than the common canvas proportions, and I like the time the canvas allows for eyes to dance across the span of the surface. Here are some photos of my process. I don't have a picture of where this painting is currently at, but keep checking my website for updates on finished pieces! 

Take notice of the picture on top of my painting in the second photo. I manipulated the original image I took of the nail polishes in photoshop, and rearranged the bottles to work better on the 12"x40" canvas. In the last photo you can see that I have the original photo on top of my piece. After I sketched everything out I went back to this photo for color and detail information that was lost in the photo that was manipulated in photoshop.

As you will see in this painting and in all of my paintings, I make a lot of changes to the subject as I paint. Sometimes I change the color, the composition, leave things out, or put things in. In my reference photo I realized the cast shadows of the nail polishes were way too strong and busy. I wanted the focus of my painting to be on the glass reflection, so I decided to keep the cast shadows out.

What you should take away from this... Never be a slave to photo references!

Happy Painting!

Fallen Soldier

Unfortunately my lipstick reflection painting wasn't working out for me. It went through quite a few transitions, but after fighting with it for awhile, letting it sit, and fighting with it again... It's time to let this bad boy go. I'm not sad about. The size of this canvas was overwhelming for me (24"x48"). This may not seem big for many artists but I usually work much smaller, so I'm going to have to give myself more time to get comfortable working larger. This is the stage I'm stopping at! Time to recycle the canvas ;)

Reflection

-Mel