Coastal Traditions Painting

ARTIST BIO Melanie Biehle creates atmospheric abstract paintings inspired by travel and place. The artist grew up in rural Louisiana and has lived on the west coast for most of her adult life. She currently works in her Seattle studio and lives just outside of the city with her husband, son, and pets. Melanie became a painter in her 40s, after becoming a writer, a mother, and an interior and lifestyle photographer. Before that, she lived and worked in Los Angeles as a film marketer and optioned her romantic comedy screenplay. The artist received a Master’s degree in psychology and later studied abstract painting and composition at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. Melanie lists artists Richard Diebenkorn, Lee Krasner, and Joan Mitchell as major inspirations. ARTIST STATEMENT I want my art to feel like I feel when I’m on vacation. Spacious. Curious. Relaxed. Inspired. I create abstract paintings that are atmospheric expressions of place. The spirit of discovery, leisure, space, and time connects us, even when we are inspired by different locales. While my paintings may have some basis in reality, they’re almost never focused on one specific location. Instead, they are an amalgam of energy, nature, architecture, color palettes, topographical aerial point-of-views, and memories of places that I have been. When I create my paintings I vacillate between using oil and acrylic. The texture paste that I often use in my acrylic paintings allows me to express sensations I feel when I’m walking barefoot in the sand, calmed by ocean waves, and find a rough beach rock or beautiful shell whose patterns make me stop and study it. I sometimes use broken shells or rugged stones as tools to help create the work that they inspire, scratching or digging through layers of paint to form lines or textures. I also regularly express my creative vision in two distinct ways, using both hard and soft edges. As an artist, I’ve struggled with this difference in my work — we are often taught to stick with one “style”. I’ve learned to embrace this part of my artistic journey and see that these differences are to be celebrated and revered. After all, life and travel are made up of hard and soft edges. I feel most at home, relaxed, and connected in or near the ocean and I spend as much time as possible on the Puget Sound beaches where I live. I’m grateful to be surrounded by so much natural inspiration.