About Sophie Melville

I am an abstract watercolour painter and live in Wanaka, New Zealand with my husband and three young children.

Through my art I seek to evoke an inner calm and sense of purpose with my interpretations of mountains, lakes, beaches and clouds. I paint in watercolour on paper with a limited colour palette which acts as a poignant reminder of the moments of clarity gained from the effects of stillness and awareness. Daily meditation and gratitude journalling are an important part of my wellness and therefore contribute significantly to the success of my art practice. I also often make personal discoveries that lead to growth and I reflect upon them visually through my art.

I paint because it completes my happiness. I feel absolute joy and elation when I paint.

It is my highest goal to share these feelings and my awareness with you through my work.

I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University (1998) and became a full time artist in 2015.

I aspire to completing a Masters in Fine Art as well as an artist in residence one day, most likely when my children are grown. It took me a long time to finally call myself an artist so I see the time needed to complete my artistic dreams as very much part of the journey.

All I ever wanted to do as a child was draw and then when I went to art school I was resistant to trying different practices, I firmly knew I just wanted to paint. But a week after I left art school I went overseas and something unconsciously shifted and I barely painted for years afterwards. (I did manage to draw a bit during my travels in France and Italy so having the memories through those precious drawings is something I treasure dearly).

So why did I stop painting almost entirely? I lost my confidence. I think it was through not having the structure of art school to show up to each day and to have to complete artwork. I also had no idea how I could just become an artist and hope to make an income. It wasn’t the norm to teach the business of art back then, thats something I've learnt as I've gone along. But it would seem a lot of us have to learn most things as we go along so I think that only adds to the beauty of growth. So it had always been my plan to travel and I'd been saving to get myself to work in the snow in the Colorado mountains where I eventually met my husband (also a New Zealander). We then continued travelling throughout the U.S, Canada, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Our time in Colorado inspired us to continue living the snow lifestyle so we returned to New Zealand and settled in the mountains by Lake Wanaka. By this stage I had chosen a career in graphic design believing it was the right decision for me. As the years went on I obsessed over my career and found myself often quite stressed about my job, unhappy and deeply unfulfilled. Always the entrepreneur I had set up my own design business in 2009 and the following year my first child, a girl was born. Less than 2 years later our second child was born, a boy and it was then that I started to recognise that I needed to create for myself again. I temporarily closed my graphics business to focus on my children and thats when my true creativity started to return. I began drawing from photos I’d taken of my children cuddled in my arms as I wanted to remember the feeling of closeness when they were so little. Encouraged by my husband I kept drawing and then picked up a brush and started painting again.

To launch myself into becoming an artist in 2015 I created a range of originals and prints to show at a local autumn market called Art in the Park. (I can’t tell you the number of times I’d been to this yearly event achingly telling myself ‘I should have a stall here’ ). I had decided to call myself Mini Grandi Artist as I was mostly focused on prints so I thought I needed to go under a different name. Mini Grandi Artist meant ‘little grown-up artist’ as the quote by Picasso ‘Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist’ rang so very true for me. A few days before the market I had created all the work I had planned so felt rather than stop creating I would try watercolours, because why not? That is when quite by chance I created my signature black and white abstract style. To my surprise the new watercolour works were the most popular at the market.

Upon my return to my studio I set about further exploring this new fascinating medium and it took off from there. I was raw. I was experimental. I had no inhibition and people responded. I found a whole new thrill for my art practice, I was hungry for growth and there was no stopping my artistic endeavours. In early 2016 I had secured myself my first solo show at the Front Room in Queenstown called ‘The Stillness Within’. This show developed my exploration of black and white mountain landscapes with the introduction of indigo.

I released several open edition print ranges that year, one in collaboration with the Paperplane store. With this print range I was exploring more and more colour with the introduction of dusty pinks and peach skys.

I also had my work featured in the same month in Homestyle and Your Home and Garden NZ magazines.

In 2017 I had decided to establish myself more as fine artist so I began only selling limited edition prints. I released my first print range of the year in my signature black and white style. I also released 2 original painting collections prior to having my 3rd child.

In 2018 with a young baby I produced one original painting collection, The Awakening Collection, inspired by a family trip to the snow in Japan and one print range.

In 2019 I had my second solo show at Gallery De Novo in Dunedin entitled 'Beneath the Stillness' It was my first collection of only abstract beach scenes in blues, greens and greys. Later that year I had another solo show entitled 'Where the light enters' in Wanaka and the works in the show were all of the local mountains at sunrises.

2020 has brought surprisingly a wonderful sense of direction for me despite the pandemic. It has forced me to adapt and I released my first collection of very small artworks entitled 'The Conscious Collection.'