New Beginnings

After much time things are moving in my art world.  I was painting on and off through a myriad of changes but nothing seemed to be going anywhere.  Then I joined the Art Society of Stellenbosch, went to a few meetings, had a field trip to a bronze foundry (so very cool!) and began to breath art again.  I exhibited in the yearly members exhibition with some very fine artists.  During this time we moved to the town of Elgin/Grabouw and realized that perhaps some "real" classes are in order for me???

I've organized to go part-time in the Andrew Owen school of Art to try and ground my work, maybe sort out some compositional swiss cheese as I'm starting to call the holes in my understanding of painting.  I've also signed up for an online course in Children's book Illustration.  With any luck I will be totally submersed in the beauty and awesomeness of creating all the swirling pictures in my dreams.....

Blogger Issues

Hello out there!

I am still here and still painting.  I have a lot of problems using blogger of late.  The page takes ages to log me in or won't log me in or I have to repeat a task about 6 times for it to work.  It is very frustrating as some of you will know.  At present I am working on finishing up a project from last year and boning up on my sketching/drawing skills/composition skills.  I will continue to post but please check out my facebook page if you see nothing here as I am usually able to post there with great ease.

Thanks for visiting.

Melissa

Swirly Girly

Last months painting was a real challenge for me.  It is the most abstract I've tried yet!  Wild.  This is my daughters dear belly button!  I'm very sorry but due to a technical problem with blogger I'm unable to upload my photo!  Please make one more click to reach my facebook page : Facebook (1) | Melissa Mead Fine Art
 

Push here for Peace

Melissa Mead, "Peace Button", 36 x 30 inches, Oil on Canvas

This is the third painting in my Abstract Series on the Belly Button.  I have had a most interesting time learning to paint loose and impressionistic.  This series has a story behind it as it's been brewing with-in me for several years now, (you can see a portion of the story here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=160878653952140&topic=254 ).  I loved painting this button.  It was tremendously challenging for many reasons and vastly rewarding at the completion!

Cool Blue Center

Cool Blue Center 30X36inches Oil on Canvas Box

This is the second of my current series.  It was such a joy to paint these wonderful cool colours together. 

Kael Abstract (36 inches sq Oil on canvas)

This is one of my newest paintings.  I loved this entire painting and the most exciting thing was how it came out just as I imagined it!

Middleplaas Farm

This is my second landscape ever.  We were camping at this site earlier in the year.  I loved the way the fence danced in the dappled sunlight and the sharp light of the sun in the distance.

I am really battling with the technicality of posting my photos.  The camera keeps "bending" the painting and I find I must crop some sides out to keep out non-painting information.  There are many other challenges like glare, keeping the colours true etc.  If you have any suggestions please drop a line!  I've got one book on Digital Photography and I'm going to get another about photoshop or similar.  So I hope my posting quality will improve!

Kenyan Boy at Nap Time

I have finished the Nap Time in Kenya

I LOVED and HATED this painting!  And now...I am very happy.  I really love the wickedly crooked bench and the stone floor.  I have softened the stones more since this photo! -But I promise not to touch him again.  I love the shine of light on his face.  It was so fun to play with some parts tight and some looose!

Underconstruction

For those of you waiting and waiting and ...still you wait for something new here.  I want to let you know that I'm working on finishing paintings long awaiting a signature and I'm also revving up for my first exhibition.  I was hoping to manage it by Christmas and this will continue to remain my goal however due to family constraints it may only be in March of 2011.

I will post the other paintings when they are signed.  The self portrait is scrapped.  I'm deciding to burn it or turn it into something...a box?  Funny...I'm always trying to get out of the box.

OH......

This is my self portrait in progress - STILL.  I'm currently under debate to put it on canvass (yes...start over).  I actually like the high colour of my most recent paint over...I just ....am thinking.

Please excuse the furry edges!  this is also an in progress from yonkes ago.  I love it, I hate it.  Those white bits are me with a plan to glaze so I have a red cloth and not so orange with highlights.  This is more likely to get finished by the end of the month.  If I'm not too distracted by .....

This is my current challenge.  A boy from Africa - I'm working to get his face oh so real and then have all else rough.  My dear husband as already organized a showing of this picture at a local restaurant that assist local Town Ship school children in paying school fees and providing uniforms and sports and school supplies.  The place is imibala. They also provide "art training" for the children and have a Gallery across from the restaurant to showcase art works.

Okay...I know you think I'm nuts but I have uploaded this photo properly and for some reason Blogger has turned it sideways.  I've reloaded it etc etc and it always comes this way.  So...I've put it up because I'm very happy with the top and middle 30second sketches.  I'm impressed at how far I've come -just about a week ago I was making lines attached to circles...now I have form.  Thank you Posemaniacs.com .  A very useful site for someone like me.  I literally have only a few odd minutes here and there to practice figure poses and I would cheat horribly if allowed.  This site has a preset space that automatically changes the pose every 30sec (or what you've chosen to be your time frame).  I could go on and on about this site but it will suite the folks it suites.

So this is where I sit with my art instructor on holiday, sports for the children starts tomorrow, my husband away for a few more days...  And I'm still painting!!!  Yipee!  I've got two other projects in the works - both with children.  You can see those when they are in the painting stages!!!