Mel Neale

I have recently returned to my first love as an artist—pastels. Not the chalk I first used as a child, but the soft luscious pure pigment available in so many forms today. I love that I can both draw and paint at the same time, with nothing between me and the support—no brush, no pen, no binders. It is perfect for my life drawing studies, and for my more fully rendered subjects. These include local sea and landscapes, scenery and impressions from my travels, people I know and have loved, and quirky or symbolic subjects which speak to me. I use drama with realism and abstraction often in the same painting to invite you into my thoughts and my world.