Melinda Mathews

I am a person with two very diverse interests.

As a full-time practicing attorney and shareholder in the firm, Sirote & Permutt, for over thirty years, I specialize in the area of estate planning. I also love to paint and am active in the Watercolor Society of Alabama. I am a long term WSA Board Member and enjoy participating in WSA exhibitions.

As an artist, my passion is painting people but not portraits, with watercolor, acrylic or oil. My people mostly come from my imagination. If I ever use models, they would not be recognized because I usually add many pounds to their figure.

To start a new painting from an idea in my head, I doodle, using pencil then eraser, getting caught up in the delight of seeing what evolves. It is a fun process! Sometimes a small design leads to a larger painting, usually different from what I started out doing. A title might be one thing to inspire me in the beginning but it also changes with the painting. Occasionally, I finish a painting in one concentrated weekend, but some paintings have evolved over a decade. One painting that I recently sold took years of layers before I was satisfied. It would be interesting to see all those layers with x-ray.

Inspiration for my art comes from a fascination of people, pets, fabrics and patterns. The important things of life center around relationships. I have one painting that I did of two flowers, just for fun. All the body language was there – even my floral painting was about relationships.

My best art advice came from my daughter, Melanie, when she was an art student at Auburn. She said, “Paint the unexpected.” I was puzzled. So, having grabbed paper, pencil, and paint (always abundant in our house), she described what she meant, painting as she talked. That painting still hangs in our kitchen and the experience was an “ah-ha” moment for me. I will forever be grateful and have painted regularly since that day.

One of the joys I feel in creating my art is constant surprise. I ponder many things, such as color, and expression, the integration of primary image and background. There is a huge amount of internal dialogue that goes into a painting. The eternal “what if.” As a lawyer, I am conservative, cautious, and carefully consider all the pros and cons, helping my clients do the same, but painting is very different. Painting is still about choices, but if I think, “wouldn’t it be fun to try…” I can do it, and after all, it is just paint and paper on canvas. As a painter, I am absolutely free.

Besides my personal pleasure in painting, the two favorite compliments I have received are related: “Your painting makes me happy” and “Your painting makes me laugh.” Typically, my paintings have some ambiguity, which I embrace, but they also express a love of life. If the viewer can recognize the ambiguity and feel the joy, then I am happy.

Space One Eleven Involvement: Spontaneous Combustion: Igniting the Creative Spark at Mid-Life 2000