Superbloom
Introducing my newest painting:
I began this painting in a season of creative drought. 2026 had been kicking my butt. Illness, a trip to California in February, and the unexpected passing of my Grandmother while we were there. Life was a lot.
Then, while getting my baby to sleep, an idea for a painting zapped into my brain. My phone was nowhere to be found so I borrowed my husband’s phone and texted myself the one word that inspired me. In Big Magic Elizabeth Gilbert writes about the process of being inspired-
“But inspiration is still sitting there right beside me, and it is trying. Inspiration is trying to send me messages in every form it can—through dreams, through portents, through clues, through coincidences, through déjà vu, through kismet, through surprising waves of attraction and reaction, through the chills that run up my arms, through the hair that stands up on the back of my neck, through the pleasure of something new and surprising, through stubborn ideas that keep me awake all night long . . . whatever works. Inspiration is always trying to work with me.”
Or in my case, through one word hounding my thoughts. I stole a few moments and prepped a HUGE canvas that I have had sitting around my studio for 15+ years. Then I stole a few moments to paint and it felt so so so so so good. I haven’t painted this large since 2020.
Once the canvas was prepped I began blocking in. Blocking in is where you take a big brush and begin in lay out the big shapes in the painting. Don’t worry about details. Don’t worry about doing it wrong (you can always fix it later). Just get paint on the canvas. It isn’t a pretty step but for me it is an important one.
In the beginning I was creating in stolen moments, just working on 1 color at a time. Green, yellow, purple, orange, light purple. Slowly building and adding details. As I paint, I am working hard to keep perspective rules in mind. Warm colors move forward, cool colors move back. Details move forward. The challenges of creating depth on a 2D surface. I want to feel like I can walk into this painting.
Eventually I was ready to begin on the foreground. One flower at a time. Each one took 5-10 minutes. Which doesn’t feel like a lot until you multiply it times 50 flowers. In the zone Melinda didn’t think about how much painting future Melinda was going to be doing. A tedious, repetitive, but also meditative process. I also came in with some periwinkle blue and scumbled in some flowers. To scumble you let your paint brush kind of dance across the canvas. It is a fun imprecise technique.
Some paintings just flowwww. No fighting. No over thinking. No ugly stage. Just painting joy. And this painting has floweeed, until it didn’t. All was well until I had leftover paint. I figured I could just mix up a couple of colors and fill in a few areas. This was going fine until I got to the path. The color I mixed was wayyy too dark and I didn’t realize until I was done and it was too late to wipe any of it off. Super frustrating. Thankfully with acrylics I can repaint it until I like it. Slowly refining and editing. But also trying not to get too caught up in the details.
Since I painted in multiple sessions, as I painted the flowers, I bounced around the painting. I didn’t want clumps of flowers that look the same and other clumps that look different. By jumping around I feel like the finished product looks more cohesive.
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”
I love this painting. I love that you can see the process of its creation through the layers. I love the path that leads you into the painting. I love the colors. I love the joy.
I hope you love it too.