Ryan Mellody Art

Self Portrait

2009-07-13T15:32:00.003-04:00

I recently purchased a drawing video showcasing Burton Silverman, a true fine art master of our day and an illustration master from yesterday. He uses this toned paper and white and black charcoal a lot, so I wanted to try it out with my own twist.

I have been trying to focus on drawing lately. Back in art school, you draw for hours each day and for the years that I have been out of school, I have been trying to squeeze as much painting in as possible that I forgot how great it was to just sketch and draw (you don't have to worry about dry time, or stretching canvas, or setting up your work area . . . . you just grab a pencil and go).

Lemons

2009-07-09T12:46:00.005-04:00

Lemons were on sale at the grocery store this week, so I bought a bag for making some homemade lemonade. I saved these three from the juicer and was able to paint lemons while I was drinking lemonade.

Stained Glass

2009-06-25T22:57:00.010-04:00

I just finished this painting of Bryana sitting in front of the stained glass window at the house. My guess is that this is the only window that is original - so it's about 100 years old (the glass has that cool dripping look because it is so old).

Yale Crew

2009-06-02T20:35:00.005-04:00

The Yale Crew boat house is a few minutes away from us, and a couple weeks ago, I was able to ride along with the coaches during a practice. This is a painting of one of the members who came to get some extra rowing in before practice. He was just coming back to the dock when I got there and this was the first shot that I took (I told him I was just setting up my camera, but I really liked this picture – I hope he won't mind).

Double Profile

2009-05-01T17:43:00.004-04:00

This is a painting of my wife, Bryana. Luckily she is so understanding, letting me paint till late at night, spending time with a photo of her, instead of the real thing. This painting is 14 x 20 and mainly done for a competition. Hopefully I win, but if not, at least I got a good painting out of it.

Putney VT

2009-04-07T16:37:00.006-04:00

I had the opportunity to go up to Putney this Saturday. I met Captain John (from Richard Schmids Video, The Captains Portrait), and got to take a look at "The Barn", the home of the Putney painters. In between the rain, I was able to paint two landscapes, the first took about 2 hrs, the other was limited to an hour and a half because of the wind and rain.

South Kent

2008-09-20T15:18:00.005-04:00

I keep up with the blog of California artist, Jeremy Lipking. He is one of the best painters alive and he was just up in CT doing some painting. He and a few friends were painting in South Kent at Bull's Bridge (Richard Schmid did a fairly famous painting of this very area) After seeing some pictures of the area, I decided to take a drive up and paint for the day. To make a long story short, I started to paint at the edge of the river and I accidentally bumped my easel which caused it to start falling into the rapids. I saved my easel, but lost a tube of white paint and the canvas in the river. I also dropped my glass palette in the process and it shattered into pieces. So after a miserable 30 minutes I got in my car and found a little grocery store and picked up a junky disposable camera and snapped a few shots of the river and bridges. The below is the first painting from those pictures - hopefully you'll see more soon.

Bigger Painting

2008-09-19T16:12:00.001-04:00

I'm wrapping up this latest painting of a girl named Ryan (I did an earlier painting of her, but it fell short in some areas, so hopefully this painting does her more justice). It's the biggest painting I have done in a while (36 x 22). I want to start painting larger pieces that would serve the collector public better - not that I have any collectors yet - and also act as some great show pieces for a gallery. I'm putting together a photo shoot for the large series of paintings, but I wanted to get in the swing of things and get used to painting big again.

Katie

2008-08-04T12:04:00.004-04:00

Below are some recent small paintings (6x10) of a friend who so graciously let me paint her. It's always a bit awkward for me to ask someone if I could paint them, she had no idea that I painted, and if I was any good, but she still waisted an afternoon for me, and I am so thankful. These were meant to be studies for a very large painting commission, but we are heading in a different direction, which is ok, because I got two great little paintings by going down this path.

Mobile TV

2008-07-17T14:35:00.005-04:00

This is an ad that I did for the July issue of Total Telecom Magazine. It highlights the NextWave Wireless Mobile TV technology, TDtv. Without getting into all the technical jargon, TDtv basically allows for 28 high-quality TV stations to be viewed live on your phone. Over in the UK, Orange and T-Mobile will be performing a pilot of the technology in the next few months, and from there, hopefully it will be opened to all their customers.

Miniature Sketch Show

2008-06-09T13:06:00.006-04:00

Update: After a great show in July from Roundhouse Art Gallery, I was able to come away as the winner of the Juror's Award. Here are some kind words from the panel:

"This was a fine show, and difficult to select a clear winner for the Juror's award. However, Steven by Ryan Mellody showed such confidence in technique and mastery of form, as well as capturing a fine emotional statement about his subject during the course of a day's normal activity, that it appealed to us as a perfect example of what we desired for the Miniature Sketch Show. Many other fine examples were considered, but many were deemed too highly rendered to be considered a "sketch," or lacked somewhat in the evidence of artistic mastery in how to implement the tools and the principles of art in a quick sketch format."

Original Post: This July, Roundhouse gallery will be having their first juried show highlighting the art of sketching. The call for entries is ending in about a week and the below sketch will be my entry. It is a preliminary drawing done in charcoal, about 6 x 8 inches, that will hopefully result in a larger painting in the near future. Check out Roundhouse gallery here.

Corporate Video

2008-05-30T16:08:00.007-04:00

I just finished a "Year in Review" motion graphics video for the NextWave Wireless Annual Shareholder meeting. The video was done primarily in Flash, although I wish I had the time to produce it in Final Cut Studio. The final product was a real success though, and it really helped visually communicate the high points in the companies success. Check the video out below . . .

Folder

2008-05-30T14:58:00.006-04:00

I claim this is a site for both my painting and design but I have slacked off on posting more of my design work (although, who can blame me, painting is far more interesting). This is a folder that I completed recently. It is primarily used for sales collateral and has a suite of data sheets and overview pages that go along with it. We are transitioning the company brand and image into a very clean, corporate look, while still trying to hold onto the technology aspects of the business.

Winter in Spring

2008-05-22T12:15:00.010-04:00

A while back, I was looking at the work of Dennis Sheehan, he has a wonderful mood and style in all of his work (I regularly get lost in his paintings, it's such an inspirational experience). The majority of his work is from memory, sources, and studying the old masters. I decided to try my hand at it, and did this little study from resources and memory. It is in no way an attempt to recreate his paintings, but just a chance to see if his method works well for me. I hope you enjoy it.

A Different Ryan

2008-04-24T15:01:00.005-04:00

This is a portrait I did of a girl named Ryan, from Buffalo. This snapshot isn't the greatest quality, but since I don't get to doing many portraits - mostly because of time - I thought it should make it's appearance on the site. I've got a couple great figure pieces coming, hopefully that will fill the human-less void that's here right now.

Heirlooms and Pansies

2008-04-22T19:35:00.004-04:00

This is an older piece from a few years back. The pansies had just come into season and this old tea cup from my grandmother had all the colors of the pansies on it's hand painted sides. The book to the left is a favorite from my childhood. I think it was originally my fathers and all the pages have turned yellowish brown. The book was a compilation of short stories about amazing animals that did good deeds and rescued it's owners - I believe the title was "Call of Courage" or something like that.

Pears and Onions?

2008-04-17T12:15:00.006-04:00

For some reason, my two favorite items in the produce section are pears and onions. They seem like complete opposites, but when they're put side-by-side, the colors harmonize so well. Now this might be only me, and perhaps you think I'm crazy, but each have special qualities that are just dying to be painted.

Maybe Tuscany

2008-04-16T14:03:00.006-04:00

No, I've never been to Italy, but dream about it every other day. This painting is pulled from a few sources and some thin air. I'm trying to train myself to say as much as possible with as little paint strokes as I can - not because I want to knockout a painting in an afternoon, but because I really want my work to be as pure and deliberate as possible. This painting is heading in the right direction by that means, so I was fairly happy with the turn out. Grapes anyone!

After the French Toast

2008-04-15T23:01:00.008-04:00

It seems like about every Saturday morning I'm making french toast for my son and wife (who am I kidding - it's for me). I was able to save a few eggs from the mixing bowl one day and paint after breakfast. It seemed like it was getting a little boring/"country" so one of the eggs decided to mix it up and think about jumping. Hopefully it adds a little movement to a still life.

Allentown Art Festival

2008-04-11T21:13:00.006-04:00

Every summer in Buffalo a few streets get closed off for the weekend for the Allentown Art Festival. It's an amazing site to see 1,000's of tents and exhibits lining the streets, with many more thousands of spectators checking out all of the amazing work. There is music, food, and people painting - it would be hard to find a better way to spend an afternoon. Each year they have a poster contest and the winner gets some cash and the pride of seeing their work all over the city. This is one of my two entries from a while back. It didn't win (the judges didn't know what they were talking about . . .), but I think it blends design and painting together, and was a real step out of the box compared to the "folk art" that is usually seen. Check out the festival site here

NextWave Booth

2008-04-11T16:21:00.006-04:00

I just got back from Las Vegas a week ago where we assembled the first NextWave Wireless corporate booth at CTIA Wireless (huge wireless industry event). I was privileged enough to work with Sparks (the builder) and come up with a great design - both functionally and aesthetically. Most of the credit goes to Sparks, but I was able to create all of the graphics and overall feel. As well as the presentations and videos that went on the 10 displays. Check out NextWave Wireless here

Pumpkin!

2008-04-10T23:21:00.003-04:00

This is one of my favorites. My wife and I went to a pumpkin patch and searched through the fields for the perfect one. I stole some random brush and twigs from around the property and set the painting up that night.

Plein Air Barn

2008-04-10T23:03:00.007-04:00

This is a great set of barns and fields near my parents house. The owners had an amazing vintage house with wide plank floors and a few horses roaming in the fields - you just stepped right back in time.

For the Dinning Room

2008-04-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

This painting was done on a Saturday morning in late Fall. I just saw a few paintings and pictures of ballerinas the week before and felt the urge to pull something together from a few sources and memory. It's definitely not the most "spot-on" anatomically, but the mood and brushwork was right where i wanted it. The painting is now abiding in a beautiful gold frame in the dinning room of a patron and friend.

Love the Summertime

2008-04-10T22:48:00.003-04:00

It's getting warm again in New England (today is 70!), so it seems like the perfect opportunity to show off some of my paintings of last summer. Just about every week my wife, son and I make our way to the town of Milford on the coast of Connecticut (It's about 15 minutes from our house). I always bring the camera along and it seems like everywhere I look, a great painting is waiting. Below is a painting of a dinghy on the coast and a ship yard near the beach that we walk on. I hope it's a short Spring for all of us, I can't wait to slip into some shorts and sandals.