Please introduce yourself. You have previously stated that you ‘found it hard to stay creative’ after completing your degree in Fine Art, why was this? In 2020, you discovered your passion for painting. How has your work developed since then?

Hi I'm Melanie, an artist based in Brighton. I grew up in Durham and studied Sculpture at the University of Northumbria. When I left I tried to stay creative but I couldn't find an avenue that really lit me up and I didn’t have an awful lot of confidence. While I had a great time doing my degree, it kind of crushed my dreams of being an artist. So, I went and got a 'proper' job.

In 2020 my creative drive came back with full force, with age came confidence, with the lockdown I had more time and space. I started painting. At first painting anything; landscapes, dreamscapes, life drawing sessions on Zoom. I didn’t have any direction, it was more an outpouring of anything that came to mind. Anything that was relevant in my life. Quite often this would be the people. And over the years it’s the people and the connection to them that has become my focus.

How have your surroundings influenced your artwork?

I work from a studio space at home. My space isn’t huge and this has influenced the size I work on. My biggest was a double portrait of Josh and Lewie 100cm x 1500cm and a bit of a struggle in the space.

I work fast, mostly because I like to, but I guess my surroundings, the interruptions from the kids and life, mean I don’t have much time focused time. On the upside, this creates a freshness and vitality that I love.

I’m very responsive to surroundings and like to draw or paint the environments I’m in. After a recent trip to Scotland, I produced lots of mountains and seascapes. I like to paint domestic settings, document the stuff around me.

Your work has a magical quality to it. How do you achieve this? How have dreams inspired your work?

Thanks, I get really excited about magic, synchronicity, the power of the universe and I like to convey this in my work. I often use symbols such as cats, horses, birds, pathways and trees. Things that relate as part of our magical landscape. I’m very interested in dreams and imaginings and I like weaving aspects of these into my work. I'm fascinated by the power of the artist to create any universe they want and love the feeling of freedom that allows. It’s this type of self-expression that I could never have achieved in my younger years. But with age, my confidence has grown and now I feel free to paint anything.

Describe your creative process from start to finish of one of your paintings. How do you establish the composition? Is the end result more, or less important to you than your process?

At the moment I’m focusing on portraits, painting the people around me. As I get more established in this genre, I'm painting more people I haven't met before. I like to start by meeting people at their home, and without drawing attention to it, I'll see how they naturally sit, together, alone, what the chair or sofa looks like. As I draw them I get to know them.

So, the composition often falls out as the painting happens. It’s not something I plan too much. Sometimes I’ll go in with an idea, referencing a composition from a famous artist as a starting point. I typically start by drawing the people in oils. Gathering information. Building a scaffold. Then take loads of photos so I can paint into it in back in the studio.

The end result is important, but so too is the process, they mean different things to me. Of course, I want to make a great painting that someone else will love and treasure in the long term. The act of painting is a daily activity, my space, my time. Painting can be an emotional thing, I’m on such a high when a painting is going well.

Is there anything you wish that you had learnt sooner in your artistic journey?

Understand self-sabotage. Acknowledge and address negative chat. Remember, I can paint anything. Whatever I paint is valid art and important. It’s my self-expression! The art teachers were saboteurs. I wish I’d seen past them. Questioned them. Listen to the voice that was there when I was a girl. The one that said, I am an artist. No question.

What do you love most about being an artist? What do you find challenging about having a career in art?

Self-expression has to be the biggest joy. Freedom to create whatever I want. It’s powerful. The power to connect with other people through my art. To move people, to lift them, make them feel seen, understood, celebrated. And to have this passion in my life.

What’s challenging is making money. The business side, the sales and marketing. The admin. Balancing all of this creative drive with the day job, the kids.

What are your future aspirations as an artist? Do you have an idea for your next piece?

I would love to make a good living through my art. I love celebrating people with paint and hope that, as my experience grows, I can establish a career as a professional portrait artist.

It’s important to me that people want my interpretation, not their imagined vision of how their portrait should be. I’m not so bothered about realistic interpretation. I want to capture the essence of a person.

As for my next piece - I have a few people lined up to paint in the autumn.

If you could spend a day with an artist; dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

Alice Neel! She died in 1982, but please take me back there, to New York in the early 80's and let me hang out with Alice. Painter of people, collector or souls. Her paintings are so inspirational. She had no fear, she looks right in and pulls out the person’s core. It’s fabulous. It’s portraiture beyond. Something a photo could never do. It’s not necessarily pretty, it’s real humanness, truthful and powerful. And that is beautiful.

From what I know about Alice, she was a real character and fought her way through life with grit and determination. I'd love to hear her stories, talk deeply about life and art and being a woman and a mother, in the art world.

Why do you think art is important in society?

What is life without art? Dull and grey. Frankly depressing. Art is joy, it’s a gift. To create it and to appreciate it is a place of freedom. Art is something beyond.

Melanie Hickmore

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Melanie Hickmore