Biography
Merilee Hamelock is a local photographer and acrylic artist who was born in Kamloops. She is attracted to the interplay of colours and fell in love with abstract art and photography at a young age. Her acrylic art is influenced by the colours, shapes, and lines that she discovers while photographing outdoors in the natural landscape. She plans to continue enhancing her acrylic painting skills as she reinterprets her original photographs through acrylic painting.
Artist Statement
As a photographer, my eye is always seeking out the lines, patterns, shapes, light and shadow, and colours that dwell in my surroundings. What is drawing my eye? What am I feeling? Often, it is the small detail that takes on a grander feel as I get up close and immerse my attention in an object. It may be the lines in a leaf, the flow of water around a rock, the play of shadow on a snowy field. During these moments I feel a connection to something “more” than me. I feel a part of a larger pattern, sparkle of light, or swirl of colour. In this space, I feel I am not alone. I strive to capture these feelings and details in each of my paintings.
Acrylic pouring enables me to capture a feeling in an abstract manner. Although I pick the colours I want to have in the painting, I do not have total control over the final image. I love to watch the paints settle on the canvas. This is where the magic happens! This is where a little spark, beyond my imagination, appears. I find it fascinating that two people look at the same painting and see different things, feel different emotions. I love the feeling I get when I look at a painting and I see something new, feel something different, from the time before. The viewer’s mind set is a key element of the painting.
My paintings are created by mixing acrylic paints and floetrol to make the paint fluid enough to move around the canvas. I then layer various colours in a container and pour it onto the canvas.Although I do create on smaller canvases, I am drawn to larger canvases where I can create long slashes of colour and patterns.