Louise Mellon's art will make you smile and inspire you with cheerfulness and vibrant color. Her subjects range from equine, canine and feline to polo, whimsey, mixed media, encaustic and dioramas. She also makes one-of-a-kind pieces from found objects, as well as acrylics and oil pastel. Have fun and a chuckle with Louise's creativity and humor.
About the artist:
Louise came from a family of artists and was encouraged and mentored by them from an early age. The request for a watercolor paint box was the ultimate bribe when she was ordered to sit still at age four for a photographic portrait. The formal portrait clearly shows the gleaming fifty cent piece she was rolling in her fingers that was for the purchase of a most cherished prize.
She grew up painting and riding and driving horses in Middleburg, Virginia, and now paints from her studio in Aiken, South Carolina. She also breeds Connemara ponies, and is on the Board of the Aiken Center of the Arts where she helps entice notables in the arts to Aiken to share their knowledge with others.
Her unusual paintings are always looked forward to at shows, and once buyers become collectors of her work, they are treated to extra gifts of works and discounts on future pieces.
Louise credits her family, her participation in many workshops, and courses taken at the University of South Carolina Aiken for the courage to do art that is different and frequently unexpected.
Hello, everyone! More threads have been added to bring out the texture of the tree and we have two dancing rabbits to carry along the theme. They are really hooting it up and having a jolly time! Could you ever imagine what fun could be had with an old, worn out towel!?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Ruffles is doing much better now and is resting well, so I have time in the studio today. More branches and roots have been added to the Dancing Tree, as well as more texture on the trunk. Now, we'll be getting to the good part...making this a piece that you'll want to reach out and touch! The towels are being dismantled, sometimes a thread or two at a time, to make the delicate branches, and long strips are crimped and rolled to make larger textural parts. I'm using gloss medium diluted with water as the "glue", and the resulting piece will be sturdy and touchable. I saturate my threads or drop medium onto the surface and then lay the threads down, coaxing them into ribbons and shapes. Out of habit from working with oil pastels (very messy), I usually work in medical gloves. Hope you're having fun watching this piece come to life, and that you will click on the image to enlarge the photo and see the details better.
Hello, and sorry to have left you hanging for a few days. Ruffie, my littlest Corgi, got stepped on by one of the ponies and had surgery to repair a broken back leg. She's doing very well and is on bed rest for three weeks. Of course, I'm doing the Florence Nightingale/butler/cook/porter/maid/masseuse/dog toy provider/entertainer/potty assistant/bandage changer thing, so I haven't had as much time in the studio. However, here is the next step on the Dancing Tree. I've started incorporating the finer threads for branches and grass, and more roots are next. I think this tree is doing the Samba! How about some dancing critters in and around, and I think the branches will extend outside the edges of the canvas. If you have an old favorite garment or piece of fabric that you just can't bear to throw away, give it a new life as a piece of art on your wall! Send it along and I'll do a truly unique commission for you... you'll smile whenever you see it!
Hi, everyone! I've started a mixed media piece that, so far, is cotton threads (from old, worn out towels) on canvas. It's about 24" x 30", and I actually love the white on white, but it will probably change several times and you'll be in on those changes. I like to work in a variety of media as it keeps me fresh and open to new ideas that I can use in my more realistic paintings. I attend many workshops, given by top artists around the country, but no one teaches my main medium, oil pastel, so I extract from these wonderful teachers what I need to translate into my own medium and style. Keep the comments coming...you'd be surprised at how much they help!
Oscar is now finished and has been happily approved by the client! The photo doesn't show the painting's true colors, I'm afraid, but you can get an idea of where the changes were made. I added warm yellow to the grass and softened the background. The shadows have added layers of cooler, softened colors and I muted the bluespot/shadow on Oscar's tongue. This has been a lot of fun...so, on to the next painting, which I hope you will also enjoy seeing come to life. Thanks for your comments, and please keep them coming!
It's almost finished, and I hope you will point out any glaring mistakes or places where things could be tweaked a bit. The color you see isn't the true color as everyone's monitors will be different, and some colors that jump out at you are hardly noticeable in the actual painting. Anyway, please tell me if something is distracting, or the contrasts aren't right, or I need more soft edges. I softened the edges that are furthest away from the viewer, but maybe you don't like that. I love having a panel of "critiquers"! What would make this painting better? By the way, it's 18" x 24". oil pastel on gesso board. Many thanks!
It's December 1 and here is the next step with Oscar. I have added more layers and am still trying to get his expression just right. I hope you will send me comments, especially if I forgot something...like a leg, eye or someting else that is obvious to you and not to me! I actually forgot to put in a horse's leg one time, but caught it at the last moment! The painting is getting close to being finished. This is when I get nervous that it's not what the client has in mind, or the colors aren't right, or the setting isn't right. A cliff hanger! My new, bumper-pull trailer has arrived and tomorrow it goes for lettering that will announce that it's the traveling art studio of Little House Productions. It has living quarters in the front and removable horse partitions in the back. I designed it as a mobile studio and exhibition space for taking to horse shows or other venues. It even has air conditioning in the back so patrons can view art in comfort, and has a very wide entrance door from the front quarters to the back exhibition space. What fun! Hmmm...it's winter and cold here...Florida is sounding very nice about now.
