Creativity – Melani Grube Art

You Can See the Work in Progress on the Journey of Hope Painting

By Melani | December 13, 2019 |

The cropped thumbnail of The first phase, the paint spatter, for the painting, by Melani Grube, "Flowing Over", for the Journey of Hope Art Show 2019. Work in Progress shot.

What would you do? For the Journey of Hope Art Show, I was given a written story of a young woman’s real life journey through mental health challenges. I did not know the woman, but I was to create a painting inspired by what she had written. While she shared her diagnosis, she focused…

The Art of the Flat Lay

By Melani | June 1, 2018 |

What is a flatlay? A flat lay is a photo of an assortment of items laid on a flat surface (thus, flat lay). The photo is most often taken from directly above the items. The surface serves as the background to the photo. The objects usually describe a theme, like “a day at the…

Work in Progress: Woman in a Red Beret’s Paint Spatter and Pencil

By Melani | April 10, 2018 |

Detail from the work-in-progress: paint and pencil base for the painting, The Woman in a Red Raspberry Beret. Blue, violet and green paint dabs with the beginnings of a woman's face, hair and beret pencilled in.

Where do you start a project? When I start a painting, I have a theme in mind. In this case, I am painting my version of Picasso’s “Woman in a Red Beret”. I look through a collection of paint spatters and smears that I have created, looking for an image to appear in one…

Creative Exploration of the Woman in the Red Beret

By Melani | April 5, 2018 |

Detail from the flat lay for The Woman in the Red Raspberry Beret painting. Possessions shown include French poetry book, lipstick, iphone earbuds, eyebrow shade kit, sketchbook, pen, wrist bangles.

Do you like flat lays? I love using flat lays as part of my art process. They help me throughout the process, before I start, during the creation of, and after I’ve finished the painting. (I also love flat lays for flat lays’ sake.) This flat lay told me so much about the personality…

Woo Your Muse

By Melani | March 21, 2018 |

Your inspiration for the week: Woo Your Muse. And unfortunately for me, this is exactly what I am NOT doing right now. Instead, I’m nose-deep in preparing my taxes. But I’ll have to write more about the muse, one of my favorite subjects, after I’ve recorded my 80 billionth receipt and got the whole…

A Big Secret That Will Help You Create a Website You’ll Love

By Melani | December 2, 2017 |

Want to build a website you’ll love? With all the details and possibilities, where do you start? I asked myself, “What am I all about? How will this site reflect what I’m about?” At first, the technology and practicalities of building the site loomed large and in the way of the design. But I…