Melanie Cambridge

Melanie has painted since childhood and by the age of 14 was using oil colours, favouring their buttery texture and tactility; the way you can move it around, scrape off and keep inspiration flowing. Her main artistic influences come from nature, particularly the English Coastline and the open Downland near to her home; both places have such wide, open spaces and big skies. Light, colour and atmosphere are inspirational to Melanie – even an empty beach, if there are interesting cloud formations, can be the starting point for a painting. Working in an office environment during her early career, painting took a back seat. However, by 1998 the drive to paint was getting far too strong, so she took an opportunity to work part-time and spend more timing developing her art. After several years came the chance to take redundancy and step fully into the art world.  Melanie has written four art instruction books, all published by Harper Collins; three for oil painters and one beginners book on acrylics. She runs workshops and painting holidays here in the UK, teaching mainly in oils and gouache.  Melanie has created her own brand of brushes and has also worked directly with a colour chemist and paint manufacturer to develop her own range of artist gouache. Her paints use pure pigments, including cadmiums, not adding any white, so that some remain translucent whilst others are naturally opaque. This makes them similar to working with oils, but far easier to travel with and use for outdoor sketching.

Offers: Demonstrations, Workshops, Online demonstrations, Holidays

Media: Oil, Gouache, Acrylic, Mixed media

Subjects: Landscapes; Woodland views and river scenes; Seascapes and coastal views; Interpreting photographs; Drawing and painting Horses

Will travel to: Up to 2 and a half hours from home in Surrey.

Email: mel.cambridge@tiscali.co.uk

Phone: 07970 432348