Southwest Art Magazine named her one of “12 Texas Artists to Collect.”
Melinda Patrick began developing her art when she was a very young child. Her paintings are her vision of the places she loves, the colorful cityscapes and ordinary people that catch her eye.
Melinda is a native Houstonian but received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She was mentored from an early age by her grandfather, a painter, photographer and graphic designer. She goes back and forth to paint between a pine forest near her native Houston and the Texas Hill Country.
HOW DID ART BECOME A PART OF MY LIFE
My high school art teacher threatened to flunk me if I didn’t join the art club. My junior high teacher brought in a student from PE every week for me to draw a portrait in chalk pastels. I was given a booth in annual festival fundraiser just to do portraits in chalk.
My parents and grandparents were very supportive of my art endeavors. The summer before I graduated high school, my mother let me invite my friends over to paint a wall of my bedroom any way we wanted. The other walls I hand-striped with some illustrations between some of the stripes. Her only regret was the black paint we used because it was hard to cover when she repainted the room.
HOW DO I CREATE ART
Shoot thousands of photos everywhere I go and I look through them constantly to determine if any should become a painting and if so, what should the focus be? It took me awhile to realize that photos don’t completely tell the story I want to tell and after laying out the image, I put the photo away and paint what I want to see.
WHAT ABOUT COLOR
I gravitate towards heavy color. I cannot make myself paint something without bright hues.
TECHNIQUE
I love how acrylic paint works for me. Though I grew up using oils, I much prefer what acrylics have become. I use their quick-drying ability to build layers and layers of color. The paintings go through a metamorphisis of color change before I’m done.
FEELINGS ABOUT HAVING ART AROUND YOU
I paint to bridge the gap between urban and rural. I grew up in a big city, went to college in a big city near beaches. Now I live a couple of hours from any beaches and paint them to experience them again.
WHAT DO MY COLLECTORS LOOK FOR IN A PAINTING
Every one of my collectors buy my art for the good feeling they get from it. My art is never gloomy or political – just something hopeful or inspiring: Eye candy.
WHAT AM I DOING NOW?
I’m painting more than ever, usually in the Hill Country of Texas. I’m selling in online art galleries (artfinder.com, saatchiart.com, zatista.com, artfulhome.com, bluethumb.com) and have put a few things in Primal Gallery in Dripping Springs, Texas.
