Design on graph paper

Mary Mellor lives and works in Norwich.

She makes abstract reliefs and paintings, many of which are geometric.

Designs are drawn up on graph paper and transferred to the support. Frequently the composition of the works emerge from the internal geometry of the rectangle itself – the conjunctions of horizontals and verticals, diagonals, golden sections and other divisions of the rectangle used by classical artists.

Design enlarged
to tracing paper

She then deviates from this rather formal process by breaking her own rules and making unexpected things happen; for example, shapes appear to dive under each other, lines are partially diverted from the track on which they started off, or random elements are added.

Many reliefs and paintings have trompe l’oeil shadows painted on, and the shadow colours change as they fall on different hues.

She aims to make a simple overall tonal pattern which over-rides the whole design so that the composition works from a distance. Colours are planned in advance, but tend to evolve as she works. She is excited by variations of the same colour.

Salthouse Blues at Norwich Castle Museum

Recently she has made reliefs and paintings where shapes have been repeated, either the same size, or smaller, and integrated into a whole. As before a simple tonal pattern is overlaid.

This year a relief ‘ Salthouse Blues’ made as a site specific piece for an exhibition at Salthouse Church, has been purchased by the NCAS for the Norwich Castle Museum permanent collection.

Mary is a member of the Norwich Twenty Group.

She is happy to take commissions.