Artist's Statement - A Closer Look...A personal note from Melissa Jean.
I am an artist... not because I choose to be, or because I possess a certain set of skills, but because it has been inside of me, the way that I feel and interperet life around me, since I can remember picking up my first pencil.
Simply put, I paint because I am filled with an irresistible and unstoppable urge to create. Equally important are the images that stop me in my tracks, simple yet complicated, strong yet fragile, something calling me out of it all. Something inside me is trying to answer, in my own rusty ways, in whatever I can do, to appreciate, to speak back, and to be grateful.
What happens to my paintings cannot compare to the spiritual journey I take from the first private moment I have with a blank canvas and a vision....to it's progress, the journey, the brushstrokes, like steps we take together. It's the process I love. It's my prayer. It is my quiet conversation, it is heated, it is silent, it is different for each painting. Just like the music that I listen to is different for each painting, and becomes my mantra. When it is finished, it is not mine anymore, but belongs to the viewer.
Perhaps the viewer sees a glimpse of how I perceive our earth. I see the world in oily skies, full of passion, or full of peace. I see water as a deep mystery, waiting to be undressed by the wind, or danced with by light. I see the tenacious determination of trees, their strength, like great elders. What have they seen in a thousand summers? What wisdom would they give us if they could speak? And who can ignore the power of the sun...we all crave it. Even the trees, who break through rock to find it, who sacrifice their last rush of blood to it, in the fleeting red we call "fall".
When an image strikes me down, demanding my attention, it stays with me until it is painted. I use brush strokes full of intention, energy and spirit. I strive to communicate the energy and emotion that communicates to me... and the feeling overshadows the details. Sometimes it stays with me for years, burning itself into my eye, much like staring at the sun does. It haunts me...for one, two, or 30 paintings until it is satisfied, and sometimes never is.
I say "eye", not "eyes", because when I was a teenager, I suddenly lost the vision in my left eye. It's true that I saw the world differently, but I think I saw more of it. Concerned that this could happen again to my other eye (taking away my world), I took off travelling, and needed to see everything, all of it. I felt, and feel, it all. I look as if it's my last chance. And really, isn't it? Not one thing will ever look exactly the same again. Every sunset is different. Every shadow and light dancing will never be the same. Every person is changing, every minute. Nothing is forever.
If there is life for my paintings beyond their creation, I hope it is to encourage the viewer to let the next sunrise hit you like a truck, let the next tree stop you in your tracks, demanding you look up, up at the world in a new perspective. Feel it all. Know that it will be the last time you see it that way, and be grateful to see it.
Thank you for taking time to be part of my life, and to view my art. Enjoy.
Trees - my thoughts on trees.
I love trees. They are delicious to me, and not because they are perfect. Especially birch trees, so stark and white against a mosaic of color, accepting sunlight, and changing themselves. I love how the bark peels and they reveal themselves in delicate disorder. I love how their branches appear black but they are hiding a deep crimson. They grow and fall, do they know how perfect they are, without trying to be?
I strive to capture, what takes a moment to be.
Water - I could watch moving reflections in water forever.
To me, it is the same as watching the flames of a bonfire move back and forth, together and apart. There’s something so meditative about painting water... my thoughts turn off and something inside me, perhaps memory, just moves my brush like water moves, slowly and smoothly, making shapes and circles and all of the incredible reflections that water makes. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a gently rocking boat, and the world turns off. It’s a lovely lovely feeling and time slips away ... when I’m painting water.
Melissa Recommends Lake of the Woods for Canadian Interviews Publishing....click the link below to read
http://www.canadianinterviews.com/recommended/index.php?ID=907&SECTION=88&type=artist