New original fine art – the Presence collection

1 Comment February 10, 2017 minigrandiartist

I’m brimming with pride and exhilaration to release my latest fine art collection ‘Presence’.

 It feels so right to be releasing this new art in my signature black and white under my true name, Sophie Melville.

‘Out of reach but not out of sight’

This collection is a culmination of a lot of simply ‘being’.
Sitting and being comfortable in my stillness.

The realisation of the total acceptance of myself.

Choosing to focus on the journey not the result.
To me this is all the awareness of presence.

 

‘Seeking Presence’

My style has become more refined through reflection, consideration and now my process is immersed in clarity and foresight. But more than ever I take a lot longer to complete a painting as I feel a deeper connection to myself and this is visually expressed in my paintings. It’s my thought processes while creating that are making me observe, consider and just be.

 

‘Silent Presence’

I hope you enjoy reading the inspiration behind each work and a supporting quote in this collection in further detail within each artwork on my website.

Shop the ‘Presence’ collection

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A new direction for 2017

Leave a comment October 5, 2016 minigrandiartist

 

This year has seen my art develop and go from strength to strength, interestingly enough, I’m the happiest and calmest I have been for years. This is by no means a co-incidence, but I’ll elaborate about that later on…

Next year will see exciting changes to the mini Grandi Artist by Sophie Melville range of art. My latest print range, the Finding Quiet series will be the last one available as an open edition range as next year I will be upgrading to only selling limited edition (numbered) fine art giclée prints.  This year my original fine art sales have dramatically increased and I’ve been securing new stockists and galleries for only my original fine art so this has encouraged me to take this next step.

My art and business have grown so much in the last 2 years and I’ve realised to further establish myself in the fine art market I need to only sell the highest quality prints I can. This means that as of 31st January 2017 I will no longer be selling any of my current open edition prints. These include the widely popular Storm at the Beach prints and my other best sellers, Marble and In the Sand as well as Linear Escape. What this means is ALL prints currently on my website will no longer be available (but you might be able to find them at some of my stockists after this date).

This decision is one that I have taken careful consideration to come to. It means exciting things for my art’s future as I seek and hope to secure greater representation in galleries through out New Zealand and Australia and only selling limited edition prints instead of open edition is the way forward I believe.

I will be releasing my first limited edition print range in February next year and there will be a slight movement away from my traditional black and white art. The range is still in the exploratory stage but I am aiming to include hints of colour combined with my usual tonal blacks, something I have courageously and thoroughly been enjoying working on recently.

The Storm at the Beach set – to be discontinued in 2017.  Styling: Hayley French, My Little House. Photo: Larnie Nicolson for Homestyle Magazine

 

Marble and In the Sand – to be discontinued in 2017. Styling and photography by Oh Eight Oh Nine

 

Linear Escape – sadly to be discontinued in 2017. Styling and photography by The Design Chaser

 

An impromptu meditating spot on a warm winter’s day reinforced to me that I really do love my life.

I’ve worked hard to establish balance in my life, ( a word that was completely foreign to me a couple of years ago when my health coach at the time said I should think about balance and she was met with a totally puzzled and screwed up face ). My life now is incomparable to what it used to be as I now constantly remind myself to slow down and seek out the enjoyment of a process or task rather than feeling the stress and letting it consume me or being focused solely on an end result. I really am so happy with my life right now, I feel enormous contentment each day for all that I have, my health, my wonderful little souls of children, a husband who deeply supports me, a cute little home which is about to offer us a new lifestyle if we are able to sell, and of course my pride in my art. I’ve come to realise that the balance I now have and my ability to prioritise self care over my to do list is what is shining through in my art and inspiring others towards a calmer, more grateful life.

One last thing you might be interested to know that has been keeping me quiet on the blog and social media recently is that we are seizing the opportunity to sell our house in the middle of a very hot market and are hoping to buy and build on 10+ acres 10 minutes out of Wanaka soon.  I of course already have my large light filled studio planned with countless pot plants, white and natural plywood walls as well as a mezzanine for keeping my computer away from the creative zone but while I am excited I do like to ground myself with the thought, what will be, will be.  If it works out, it will be all we have dreamed of, but if not, it wasn’t meant to be. It just means a better opportunity awaits us.

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement of my art through your emails, social media comments and of course simply through choosing to purchase my art.

Our small home of 10 years currently showcasing ‘The Hope Within’. I get so much satisfaction from sitting on the couch at night and admiring how on earth I created this work as well as pondering what will be created in my studio next….

 

Shop the last of my open edition prints now www.minigrandiartist.co.nz

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Featured in Homestyle and Your Home and Garden magazines (NZ)

Leave a comment August 2, 2016 minigrandiartist

This month and last I have been thrilled to discover my art has been featured in two excellent New Zealand interiors magazines in 3 different issues.
The image above from the latest Homestyle magazine features Another Storm at the Beach & Storm at the Beach prints in the incredible home of Hayley and Darryl French. I had a small idea that one of my prints might be included in the August/September issue but I didn’t know it would be two prints in the home of one of my customers! Hayley’s style is very much Scandinavian inspired with a strong compliment of New Zealand textures and my ultimate, hints of greenery in all the right places. No wonder Hayley is a talented interior designer with her own business, My Little House

 

Blueberry muffins and a turmeric almond milk latte while enjoying the surprise of seeing my work in Homestyle.

I also was lucky enough to be included in the August ‘For Art’s Sake’ feature in Your Home & Garden alongside some talented and inspiring New Zealand and Australian artists.

Finally and maybe most proudly I also had one of my paintings seen in the home of last year’s Block winners, Brooke and Mitch who moved to nearby Queenstown last year featured in the July issue of Your Home & Garden magazine. Brooke and Mitch used two of my prints in one of the Block warehouse challenges so were already familiar with my work when they came to my solo show The Stillness Within in March.  They then fell in love with The Contentment Within and decided it was a necessary spend for styling their new home.

When I delivered the painting to them at their new house (Queenstown is only an hour’s drive away from where I live in Wanaka) I was thrilled to discover why they chose The Contentment Within as unbeknown to me part of the view from the north facing side of the house mirrors the mountains in my painting.

Brooke and Mitch’s beautiful light filled home in Jack’s Point, Queenstown beneath the Remarkables.

 

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for abundance.’

Eckhart Tolle

More fond of sharing my musings and wonder at the world via my newsletter I’m not normally one to shout so loudly about my successes so I hope you have enjoyed sharing in this slightly different post.  I really am so appreciative and grateful of just how far my art has come in the last 18 months. But key to this I feel is simply enjoying painting what inspires me, not painting for the market or a recent trend, just painting authentically for me.  It’s through this I notice people connect with my work and then want to know and understand more about the story behind it.

Maybe further good will come one day but for now I will continue to be grateful for what I have already and keep painting what I love. I’ve found so much happiness by just accepting things the way they are. By choosing to highlight the good that fills my life instead of wishing for something else I’ve found it easy to feel contentment. It makes me wonder what my next discovery will be. I’ll let you know when I find it…

www.minigrandiartist.co.nz

 

 

New work – The Quiet Collection

Leave a comment June 9, 2016 minigrandiartist

‘Perhaps the greatest opportunity to connect to what really matters lies in the silent spaces of our day. When we resist the urge to fill every minute with noise and activity, we open the doors to our heart, mind and soul to let the joy come in.’ Rachel Macy Stafford, Hands Free Life

The Peace Within – watercolour on French Arches paper, framed

I am excited and proud to be releasing my latest work, The Quiet Collection, an abstract landscape range that evokes a sense of contentment and peace from within while being inspired by imposing mountains, reflective water and illuminated clouds. This collection is a continuation of the Stillness Within exhibition and tells a new story of wonder and fulfillment from having found stillness.

Calm – watercolour on French Arches paper, framed

In creating these works I have found a new sense of freedom and appreciation from simply letting things be as they are. It was from being quite unwell with a sinus infection for almost 2 months earlier this year and only being able to get the absolutely necessary daily things completed that I learnt that I had to accept that I would eventually get better, I just had to give it time and continue to be positive and optimistic about the future. I had to believe in myself that I would get to paint again and that I wasn’t missing out on underachieved goals, they simply would take a little longer and that I would get there in the end.

Acceptance I have found is not defeat and it doesn’t make me complacent, it is very much a foundation upon which to build on. The more I accept and just be, the happier I feel and this then creates space for me to see the quiet, in between moments more and more, not just as something set aside and scheduled for Sunday.

The Hope Within – watercolour on wood, framed

‘You can’t calm the storm. So stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.’ Timber Hawkeye, from The Connection

Calm the Storm, watercolour on French Arches paper, available unframed or framed.

It is in quietening down my life to only allow myself to focus on the priorities that I feel I have evolved into enjoying and really living each day rather than having it pass by in a blur. I have then found that I am the most productive I have ever been as feelings of clarity and fulfillment guide me through my day and I don’t feel the weight of being busy.

Linear Haze – watercolour on French Arches Paper, unframed.

I hope that my new collection fills you with inspiration to live the best life you can simply by accepting yourself and letting things be. It is then that you can easily find inner quiet and fulfillment.

If you feel a sense of connection to any of my works I’d love to hear your thoughts, please email me sophie@minigrandiartist.co.nz

All of these works and several further new works are available in my shop www.minigrandiartist.co.nz

Thank you!

mini project : 5 artworks in 5 days

Leave a comment September 17, 2015 minigrandiartist

Inspired by the talented American artist Emily Jeffords recent project to create 30 artworks for her 30th birthday I decided to create my own mini project of starting 5 artworks in 5 days.

My daughter had recently turned 5 so this was a number I was being reminded about daily so it seemed like an achievable goal and having recently returned from holiday I was keen for a new challenge.

I constantly seek to push and develop my style every time I create art but I felt the flow of creating had become automatic and the element of surprise and experimentation was lacking. Sometimes when you create a work that you’re really happy with you ache to create that again but the secret lies in not so much wanting but more in letting it appear.  I know that for me creativity leads to heightened creativity so if I only could get stuck into a project without a perceived outcome that I would be able to immerse myself in creating and therefore just being.

If you stop wanting something so badly and just accept and allow it to, well, it kind of just happens.

These are the 5 artworks some of which I have developed further since this little art challenge. Some of them will be available in my shop soon, please contact me sophie@minigrandiartist.co.nz if you’d like to see the finished works before they are available for sale.