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About Me
Inspiration
I am inspired by so many little moments every day however color is where i begin. I am also inspired by the similar textures and patterns in the Earth Sky and Water. Combining colors and patterns of these 3 elements with a recognizable image such as trees brings it all together; To be able to teleport anyone into a daydream, enable you to lean into your imagination, or simply bring you joy is a successful painting and why i paint.
Techniques
Living in Idaho for 24 years has greatly influenced my technique as well inspired me with its majestic landscapes. The swirling of fall leaves up into a deep blue Idaho sky inspired my technique of splatters as if the leaves are lifting off the trees on a beautiful day. I paint with acrylic paint which allows me to work faster with many layers of washes, drips, and brush strokes. I lay my canvases flat and splatter from above creating a sense of motion.
Career Highlights
I have been voted best local artist since 2010 from my more than generous community. I adore working with high school students and mentoring personal projects or encouraging anyone to find curiosity within themselves. My studio is in the heart of Hailey Idaho and i am grateful to continue my work in a spectacular valley i call home.
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Unleashing spirit iNTERVIEW
Transformation is a new perspective for Melissa Graves Brown
By Sabina Dana Plasse
Melissa Graves Brown’s body of work spans more than three decades. Preserving her style while creating a recognized brand, her work is sought by art collectors and enthusiasts for its appealing draw, especially for the environs of living in the Mountain West and beyond. As a prevalent Sun Valley, Idaho, artist, Melissa is known for painting layers of glistening air and spectacled drops in which trees, moons, mountains, and other elements of nature live and breathe on her canvas. Her work dazzles, but most of all, it inspires—dreaming trees, breathtaking groves, and warming hearts—she created it all in her own unique, attractive style and within her mind’s eye.
Melissa’s paintings have been branded, collected, exhibited, and permanently installed by many who live and work in Sun Valley, along with thralls of those who visit the area. She has provided many nonprofits with her work for auction items and support. She has sold series upon series to her collectors, who are on constant standby, patiently waiting for the paint to dry on anything she does.
Like many artists looking to grow and expand their vision, Melissa has recently re-examined her vast amount of work so that she can deconstruct, reinvent, and discover a new approach to painting. “Someone said to me, ‘your work is a reflection of you.’ So, I decided it was time to loosen up my paintings and break from my traditional approach.”
Melissa brings excellent insight and release to her approach to her new body of work. Utilizing a deeper palette of colors and allowing for paint to drip, run, and flow on its own, she is leaning toward a new post-modern style for her paintings, reflecting a feeling of drift, stream, and movement. Far from stagnant, Melissa’s unique perspective is fresh and alluring but familiar.
“As I finish painting after painting for this new body of work, I was able to articulate a new voice for my work and myself,” she says. “After thirty-three years, it feels like I have a superpower.”
A student of abstract art, the Aspen tree caught her attention, and she never looked back. To maintain her brand and identity, she has given her signature Aspen a new perspective and added new matter, including the sea and waterscapes, which flow and swirl with a range of blue and aqua color streaming.
“These new works include ocean scenes as an abstraction of a new thought process for my work,” she explains. “I’m still recognizable, only adding new subjects, especially those related to water. As a visual person who works in nature, it has always been about the sky and, of course, t Shuffling her feet on the sand or in the snow is a pattern that Melissa knows well. “It’s amazing how everything is so interconnected. Nature connects us as a family—a world,” she says. “Only, I’m reflecting and loosening up the process.”
With more expression and newfound freedom of subject matter and paint application, Melissa is taking the drip as a path of least resistance, but not subtly. Her seven-foot-size paintings demand attention and study, which is something she knows well. “When you write a song, what do you write first, the lyrics or the music?” she asks. “I’m doing it because it’s the only way I know how.”
With more abstraction, an array of colors, and a wash of movement, but motivated by joy, Melissa presents her new work to evoke a feeling of happiness with an element of sophistication. “I’m paying attention to what is happening around me and the world we live in,” she says. “I’m following an intuition to bring about creativity. Utilizing the abstract form and color theory can be rewarding, informing my work for this new approach. It reflects myself and my life—it’s unknown, but I am brave.”
With decades of experience as a professional artist, Melissa knows painting, and she would like to continue bringing a new perspective to her work with new elements and vibrancy.
“For years, I would have patrons come to my studio and pick out work they wanted to buy, and I always wanted to fix the works before handing them over,” says Melissa. “Now, I am letting things go, which, for me, is unexpected but a great release leading me into a new realm, which I am ready to take on.”he weather.”
