14th October 1958
Born in the UK. Indulged in painting since I could lift a pencil. Paintings now sited all over the world, hanging in homes and public venues from royal palaces to celebrity homes, to medical facilities and other fascinating places.

Painting for me is an experience that involves every aspect of the body, every sense and every dream, not just for the artist, but more essentially for the viewer too.
My paintings have to have movement, but the majority of my paintings contain some percentage of entirely representational material, something that people can recognise and hold onto through their journey across the canvass. I love to emphasise the subject's innate beauty and life through abstract movements, which are an extrapolation of the emotions contained within the work. Thus my work often centres on an image of a person or other live subject and the kinetic energy that is inherent within it is expressed through colour, material, lines and light.
I feel we are in a very privileged age when the lessons of history lend us the opportunity to take the Art of painting beyond any of the constraints that have previously existed, those that the great masters had to deal with and rage against. They have provided us with the greatest lessons and it is our duty to make the most of their discoveries.

My influences are the grace and observations of Degas and the progression of that through the play of light in Mary Cassatt's work. I adore the innovations of Leonardo and his interpretation of so many aspects of life that pervaded his everyday thinking. I audaciously aspire to be most like his mind in the way that I think. I am in awe of people like Picasso and Braque who pushed the boundaries of expression at a time when Monet was still exploring light with his lily paintings.

I love being able to talk about my work too. I have been privileged in the past to host award ceremonies and other unusual situations that give me the chance to stand in front of audiences and spread the joy of being alive today in this truly creative era. My paintings do vary a lot in subject, not because I lack any kind of focus, but because I have so much to say through my work. I love painting equestrian subjects and have been fortunate enough to win awards for this. My portrait paintings have taken me into some very interesting places over the years, and my general commissioned work has even had me paint for our own Queen. My pure abstract paintings have given me the opportunity to breathe, they, through their freedom and generally through their large size, enable me to loosen up and feel the energies that are within me in a much more overt manner. Yet my passion is still for the human face and in particular for the female body. It has been the muse of the centuries and remains so for me today.

Melissa Mailer-yates