Home | Mike Melnechenko

Through its ever seasonal changes, the Canadian landscape opens us to the idea of mystery and allure.

Vast and haunting vistas, alongside more intimate environs of forest, rock, and lakes, shape our thoughts and place within these raw and untamed settings.

The Canadian landscape has been shaped by our native and wondrous beaver. The course of rivers and streams, altered by this ingenious water engineer, have resulted in countless bogs, glens and swamps. Creating exquisite barricades of trees and mud, their impressive dams block and set the water levels required for their living quarters. As a consequence, beautiful ecosystems of wildlife and vegetation arise within this fascinating world I’m inspired to paint.

Winter

Winter is an unexpected opportunity for underlying structures of the landscape to reveal themselves. Trees and vegetation, drained of life affirming leaves and flowers, take on a heightened abstract quality. However, with summer’s vibrancy muted, blankets of ice and snow paradoxically reflect pure hues of colour. It is with great anticipation throughout the day to see these hues of blue, violet, orange, and yellow reflect off this whitened canvas. The great narrative of life seems simplified as lone calls of birds carry across these stark wintery spaces.

Shorelines

Shorelines, where the three great elements meet. Land, sky, and water meld with ever changing variety. No two moments ever alike as each element interacts on the others. With water, as variable and reflecting as snow, takes on expressive pageants of colour and hue. Large rocks withstanding relentless waves and vertical rising bluffs, provide the dramatic foils to this ever changing subject.

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CANADIAN LANDSCAPE PAINTER

Selected projects

Wetlands

Winter

Shorelines