Winter’s Icy Breath: the Flat Lay Inspiration

By Melani | January 18, 2019 |
A detail from The flat lay assemblage inspired by the painting, "Winter's Icy Breath", by Melani Grube. From the Muses series. The flat lay includes winter plant sketches, metal and black metallic bracelets, a white heart-shaped seashell, a jewelled pin, crystals, and photos of deer, a nesting bird, snowy landscapes, a siberian husky, and an eagle.

  What do you think of when you think of winter? These creatures came to mind for me. These colors crept in and found a home in my painting. And crisp, crystalline textures crunched about. Keep watching to see this piece develop. See the next post in the process here or start at the beginning…

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The Art of the Flat Lay

By Melani | June 1, 2018 |
A flat lay of mystical images, color studies, patterns, handlettering, ribbons, gathered from a mood board.

  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…

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Using a Flat Lay to Explore the “Wild Horses” Painting

By Melani | June 1, 2018 |
A detail from the flat lay exploration of associations we have with horses, through an assortment of objects: a horse shoe of good luck, the glove of English-style riding, the wildly beautiful horse on the book cover, the bow-tie of the proper gentry riding class, the red and white lariat, the silver cowboy, an arrowhead pointing to the Native American riding tradition, the archer-horse-man of the horoscope sign Sagittarius, and a mini celluloid pencil for scoring horse shows.

  Have you noticed all the different ways that horses touch our lives? When I started working on my “Wild Horses” painting, I  kept running into associations with horses. But I got worried when I started putting together a flat lay image to expand my ideas for the painting. I thought I didn’t own anything…

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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…

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