The work: Mellissa Read-Devine, Top of the Hill, 2021. Acrylic on canvas, framed, 95 x 95cm. Courtesy: the artist.
Based by the Hawksbury River, north of Sydney, English-born artist Mellissa Read-Devine looks to the natural landscape surrounding her studio for inspiration for her vividly-hued paintings. In her work Top of the Hill, she portrays an ancient barn she found on her walks around the beautiful countryside she now calls home. “One day gravity will call it down”, she says, “so I was happy to record its place amidst the wildflowers and grasses.” In this work, Read-Devine uses her signature style, which she has coined macropointillist. Her approach is characterised by distinct strokes of colour that are carefully selected and placed to converse with the bold shades around them, making the canvas come alive with an interplay of tone and hue. She uses thick-bodied paint with little to no water, bringing a purity of colour to the work, and requiring a careful hand to apply. In this piece we see an array of vibrant greens alongside fresh splashes of pink, blue and red. Read-Devine is unafraid to show the hand of the artist, her brushstrokes adding textural gradations to each dash of paint. The end result is an intensely joyful work, the artist’s fondness for her adoptive home made clear to her audience through her meticulous approach and her expansive palette.