I first met Melanie a couple of years ago through the Australian Etsy team, DUST. I have always been amazed at how many facets there are to her – originally working in IT and Records Management, now she also quilts, draws, paints, photographs and designs fabric.

Not surprisingly (given her diverse interests), she describes her working method as chaotic. “My desk, and all of my workspaces are generally a real mess, but my mind (which is also a bit chaotic), I think, is highly organised – hence my work history.  I can organise data like a champion, but I can’t organise my desk to save my life.

“My creative space is sort of everywhere.  Anywhere I can sit with a sketchbook, or go with a camera, or an intersection with a Traffic Signal Box – these are all creative spaces for me.  My work areas are generally wherever I can clear a flat space :)”

 

 

 

What I see in Melanie’s work are some fabulous drawing skills, honed after many years of practicing the art of ‘zentangle’ – a kind of structured doodling, often used by its practitioners to promote a meditative state. I also see influences of traditional Aboriginal art from her adopted country (Melanie was born in England). And not surprisingly, one of her favourite artists is  Anna Price Petyarre.  These two influences come together to create patterns with wonderful detail and variety.

She has always loved to draw and paint. “When I was little I used to be in heaven when I found a big sketch book, or a paintbox in my christmas stocking.  I used to scrounge anything flat to draw on.  I remember once, drawing on the cardboard from inside one of my Dad’s new shirts.  I think that was an entry for a competition!”

She also has great memories of a creative family – her Mum made all her clothes when she was little. “She used to make us the best birthday cakes too – one that really sticks in my memory was my brothers row of Daleks right down the middle of the party table.  One for each child [!]. She went to nightschool to learn cake decorating, and we used to love watching her do that.  My Dad used to make things too.  He built his own telescope three times, I think, so we grew up with hand made being the natural way of things.”

 

 

School holds bittersweet, but ultimately wonderful memories for her. In art class, “We’d all drawn a pencil portrait of one of the older students, who was working in the same room, on one of her A level projects.  I thought mine was fabulous.  It was soft, and light, and then Mrs Armstong came along with a dark pencil and said be bold!  And drew some really heavy lines on it.  I was devastated.  Until then she’d been one of my favourite teachers.” But then later, in a different class, with another teacher, “There we were drawing a portrait (again) – this time I was drawing my little brother.  We started off on newspaper – our sketch.  The art teacher was walking around the room, looking over our shoulders. He came and took my sketch away and gave me a sheet of linen weave paper.  “No sketches for you” he said.  “You start right on the paper.”  That more than made up for what Mrs Armstrong did.  That was the nicest paper I’d ever drawn on.  He did it to me again on our next project.  Took away my sketch and gave me the best paper right away.  I think that him being able to see that that’s how I work best was the best thing that ever happened to me, as a creative child.”

As an adult, one of the most exciting things that has happened to her was selling a photo via flickr, to someone who used it to wrap a building in Los Angeles! You can see the original image of lusciousness here, and you can see what happened with it here.  “I used the money I got from that to buy my iPaq.  Well before the days of iPhones!”

 

 

But the hardest single obstacle to her life is an occasionally crippling anxiety disorder.  “I am agoraphobic, and have social phobias too.  Mixing with people – even online can be really difficult for me, which is why sometimes I disappear for a few days.  I just need to be able to re-gather my thoughts, and get myself back to being grounded, or centered, or something.  This is the reason why I’m not able to work anymore, so in a way it’s also been a blessing since it’s given me time to devote to my art.” And this is also reflected in where she lives, outside Brisbane. “I love where I live.  It’s far enough out of the city to be quiet, close enough to the city to be not far away, and in the Redlands, with lovely areas of natural bushland. And it’s close to my daughter Jade and her kids :)”

 

 

Despite all the anxiety, Melanie has established herself extremely well around the interwebs – “I have an about.me site, that has links to everywhere (I think, so that might give you a peek into just how far I spread myself 😉 ) http://about.me/wiccked.”

Enjoy exploring.

In the mean time, you can find Melanie’s fabric designs on Spoonflower here, and the fabulous monogram letters, that you can print out and colour for yourself are available through her Etsy shop here.

*

With enormous thanks to Melanie for sharing her words and images.