Mell's Sell - Portfolio - Art

In this section of my portfolio, you will see various artwork that I have created over the years. These were done quite a long time ago, and, seeing as I'm feeling the need to create again, this page may be updated from time to time, so check back often.

Most of these were school projects, with various personal projects intermixed. I hope you enjoy them.

Painting - The Falling Illness (1998)

This was a project I did in college. I had developed epilepsy as a teenager and found myself really researching the subject a lot in my third year of college. As I was also intrigued with the idea of self-portraits due to my problems with my self-esteem, I felt the need to explore the subject from a historical viewpoint of how the world used to view epilepsy, which literally translated means "falling illness". I was really fascainated that people used to be charged with witchcraft or demon-possessed and were burnt at the stake. It's interesting that we've come a long way since those days, but obviously humanity still has a way to grow.

This is actually one of my favourite pieces.

Painting - Voices (1998)

This painting was also done in this last year of college, during a Painting II class. It's another self-portrait.

When I was a kid I was severely bullied, or verbally abused. (See Mell's Hell for details.) During this year of college I was trying to do a lot of healing and self-discoveries about my past. I realized that even though I didn't endure any more insults, I was still hearing the words in my mind, repeating over and over again, like a tape-recorder.

This painting is meant to depict a visual image of what that feels like. The blue on the bottom was suppsed to represent hope - that some day these "clouds" or voices from my past will no longer continue to haunt me. I'm still waiting for that to happen.

Painting - Fall Tree (1998)

This piece I did after college was over and I still felt the need to create. This is a representation of when trees change colours in the fall. The background is the fall leaves's colours while the tree in the foreground is still trying to cling on to its leaves and thrive.

Now that I think about it, this tree was very symbolic of me and what I was going through when I left college. I felt I was starting to figure myself out, but was forced to live back in the small town I very much disliked for a little while until I found a job and could get my own apartment. I hated being in that small town more than any other place I've ever lived, and even to this day, have no desire to go back, even though my parents still live there.

I guess the tree represented not wanting to let go of the work I had done on myself in the last year of college when I was trying to heal from the wounds from my past. (See Mell's Hell for details.)

Painting - Sgt. Pepper (1997)

This was another project I did in college, this time in my Painting I class. I am very heavily into the Beatles and at that time Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band was my favourite album. You will see more of the Beatles artwork on this page, as I have a few more pieces.

This was taken from an image from the CD book for this album. I particularly liked how George turned out, as I love what I did with his hair and cheeks. Someone in the class mentioned to me he liked my John.

Painting - Forest (1997)

This was yet another class project of a landscape. I took a photo from an old family trip to Banff and painted trees. I really liked how the tree trunks turned out and how the leaves were done.

Painting - Yoda (1999)

As some of you may have read from my Mell's Spell page, I am somewhat of a geek. I love Star Trek and Star Wars. Yoda was and always will be my favourite character in Wars, probably because he was a muppet and a very wise old man.

I really liked the sense of depth I developed in his cheek bones. I put this in here for fun, basically.

This was probably the best rendition of Ringo Starr I've ever accomplished to this day. This image was from the Beatles' Anthology CD book and I loved the emotion it depicted.

Drawing - John Lennon (1996)

Another pencil drawing of a Beatle, this one being John Lennon. At that time, he was my favourite Beatle, but that soon evolved into George. I still love and respect John, I just find I'm more drawn to George's songs nowadays.

Drawing - Woody Path (1999)

This was a project I did after college, but was taken from a photo I took for photography class of an area at the Medicine Hat College campus which was surrounded by a small pond with wood trees all around. It was a nice relaxing area.

I really liked how I did this pencil drawing, and the range in light and dark shades. Not to mention the water really looked nice too, which I'm not sure if the photo of it is doing it justice or not.

Drawing - Nude Study I (1997)

One thing I will complain a little bit about was the fact that we had only one model for three years to draw in Medicine Hat College. After drawing her a few times, I got really used to what my mind thought she looked like instead of maybe what I actually saw, if that makes any sense at all.

The drawing is old so the colours aren't as vivid as they once were. I really liked how I did the skin tone on this drawing. It's using soft pastels.

Drawing - Nude Study II (1997)

This one was the same model, and using pastels again. I do think I drew her head too big for her body, but I really did like how this drawing was done, so it's here.

Drawing - Nude Study III (1997)

I have many more drawings of this model, but have limited it to my top four favourite ones. This one I loved more than any of the others. It is also done with pastels. I really loved how I did her skintone in this drawing.

Drawing - Nude Study IV (1997)

This drawing was done with brown conte. I love drawing with conte. I find it so much easier to use than soft pastels, and not quite as messy. This image almost has a quality of a monotone photo, and I really liked how it turned out, despite the errors showing. I also like drawing backs, I've noticed.

Pencil Crayon - John Lennon (1996)

This is one part of the four images from the cover of the Beatles Let It Be album. I did this just after my first year of college during the summer vacation months. I really loved how this one turned out. All four of the images are on my wall at home in the same order as the album cover.

Pencil Crayon - Paul McCartney (1996)

Part two of four drawings from the previously mentioned album cover. I used various different pencil crayons to try to get as close to realistic colours as I could for all of these images.

Pencil Crayon - George Harrison (1996)

Part three of four drawings from the Let It Be album cover. Same info as previously mentioned.

Pencil Crayon - Ringo Starr (1996)

Part four of four drawings. I wasn't too happy with how Ringo turned out in my drawing, which inspired me to try to do the earlier pencil drawing of him, which I was much more pleased with. I love Ringo, but he's very difficult to draw.