Biography - Melinda Nemechek
BIOGRAPHY:
Melinda Nemechek is a landscape artist whose paintings ignite your memories and inspire you to dream. Melinda is best known for her majestic oil landscapes of the Rocky Mountain West and her "canyon" paintings of the Southwest. Dominated by mountains and grand western skies, the vibrant colors of the changing seasons are the backdrop for creeks, flowers and the Aspen trees of the Rocky Mountains. She uses a close up, limited perspective that leads the viewer into feeling that he or she is actually a witness to the scene.
Melinda lives and paints in her mountain studio Southwest of Denver at an altitude of almost 9,000 feet. The studio setting, surrounded by Aspen and Pine, provides unlimited subject material for Melinda's Rocky Mountain landscapes. An avid hiker, Melinda has hiked many of Colorado's "Fourteeners" and highest passes, the Grand Canyon and much of the canyon country of the Southwest.
Her interest in the Southwest and the Native American culture grew during many visits to the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona. Her fascination with the Native American culture and the ancient cultures of the Anasazi brings another dimension to her Southwest collection. Her Southwest paintings of traditional and ancient dwelling invoke a melancholy feeling of time past and present. Stark and sometimes sad, they are no less intriguing than her serene mountain views.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
As long as I can remember I drew and painted. I grew up in Kansas, lived on a ranch for a while where horses and dogs were my favorite subjects. I loved the old barns and fences that I thought were the "old west". In 1970, I relocated to Colorado. I'm so inspired, I think there's a painting everywhere I look. I love Colorado, the skies, the seasons, the beautiful, vibrant colors. I still like old barns, little cabins and the adobe buildings of the Southwest.
The drama of light and shadow patterns in nature inspires every painting. I want to capture a magical moment in time that is peaceful and serene; that looks untouched, except a trail or a little cabin. I especially love Aspen trees. I love the way the sunlight plays through the branches, like the sun trying to chase away the shadow.