About

I remember standing beside my grandmother while she worked at her canvas during a visit to our home in Barberton, South Africa, when I was a child. I was fascinated by the way the picture took shape as she mixed and placed her oils. That was the beginning of my dream to do the same. The dream was pushed aside by other boyhood pursuits; then came the long hard task of medical training that merged with the responsibilities and demands of Neurosurgery. Neurosurgery became a challenge that I could not let go, and remains as a master that is unrelenting in its demands to this day. The dream of painting was all but forgotten.

Then a few short years ago Merle, my wife, intervened with a new perspective. She arrived home with a set of acrylic paints and so I began a hesitant exploration of my old long-lost dream. The more I painted the more the dream took hold and now it consumes me more than ever I imagined it could. I am told that competence is a matter of very hard work and dedication, talent comes later. No accomplished person gets to where they are, be is in music, art, dance, engineering or any other endeavour without great effort. To me paining is every bit as big a challenge as I have faced in the other walks of my life, and it will not let me go. Yet I joyfully submit to its insistent call. I long to be able to produce works that are pleasing and that do justice to the magnificent beauty that I see in creation all around me. Painting for me is an act of homage to the wonders of creation. It is a journey of discovery as I face the problems posed by shapes, colours, temperature and edges lost and found. I have come to realise that the journey has no end.

This website features some of the paintings that I have produced. I do hope that you enjoy viewing them. Please feel free to contact me at roger@melvillart.com or melvill@neurosurgery.co.za for further information or enquiries.

 

Below:  My first oil painting.

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