Mellissa Yarbrough

Favorite Medium: paintings
Statement: I work in series because I find it impossible to say all that needs to be said in one image. Each painting reveals more about the subject I am working with and I discover more each time I start looking at different aspect. It is like a friendship developing over time rather than trying to tell a life story on a first date.My paintings are thick and lush with layers of paint applied one over another. The technique resembles woodcut reduction printmaking as much as traditional oil painting. The images are built up using shapes of color to define the motive through the negative space. The series shown here focuses on the floral still life arrangement not so much because I like flowers but because they are naturally unique and make exquisite patterns. I was trained with an abstract expressionist sensibility and consider my paintings to be abstracts because they are more about paint, color, shape, and application than about subject or motif. However, I do work from life. I feel working from a still life and responding to the information provided therein is more honest, uncontrived, and ultimately more exciting than battling the canvas one on one.

Awards: 2000 Featured Artist at iTheo.com, 1999 San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, local artist showcase 1999 In-Sites Magazine, Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center Monthly 1997 Artweek Clothed In Memory at Joseph Crowning Gallery, by Alicia Miller