The
art of Melanee Sylvester began in childhood and progressed to expressing
herself as an impressionist painter. She spent two years of formal art
training in England at the Ipswich Civic Art School learning the basics
of drawing and composition and exposure to art history. Living in the
English countryside has greatly influenced her outlook on the subjects
she choose to relate in her paintings ..landscapes, country gardens,
old homes and barns now seen in the central coast of California by the
sea in Cambria.
Cambria, on the central coast offers
a plethora of subjects that draw visitors from over the world. Her favorite
subjects are the old ranches shaded by eucalyptus and oak trees snuggled
in the golden hills hidden down tree tunneled country roads. Down the
hill from her home is the softly trailed Moonstone Beach....its charm
is the many tide pools and preserved native plants and grasses. The
old village has many picket fences with rambling roses planted by the
first Italian-Swiss settlers along with their remaining homes all making
nostalgic subjects for Melanee’s paintings.
The feeling of atmosphere and gentle lighting on simple everyday life in the country capture her attention and this is the story she wishes to tell in her paintings. Like any good story teller , to be effective requires skill and a working knowledge of our tools, likewise good drawing ability and sense of color and light are reflected in her oil paintings. She continually tries to develop as a skilled artist telling a good and interesting story.
Tracey Sylvester-Harris,
Melanee’s daughter, is also featured in the gallery. She likes
to create a mood or feeling that the viewer can also experience and
relate to in her paintings. The feeling could be one of repose, peacefulness,
thoughtfulness, contentment, camaraderie, or even loneliness. Her subject
matter is drawn from the world around her. Not from fiction. The figure
compositions are most often her friends or family, in settings familiar
to her.
The interior studies and still lifes are inspired from observing the
poetry in ordinary thins. At times her paintings reflect coffee cups,
tea pots, tables, chairs, plants, and hats... to name a few. However,
one of her favorite painters, Matisse, said it best, “What
interests me most is neither still life nor landscape but the human
figure. It is through this that I best succeed in expressing the nearly
religious feeling that I have toward life.”
