Melanie Waugh ‘Soft Summer’

Musing on her first year of motherhood, SOFT SUMMER is Melanie Waugh’s escapism into well-known vistas. From Byron Bay to Crescent Head, Australia’s east coast and its iconic beaches. The canvases are filled with instantly recognisable aqua-blue waves lapping the pale sandy shores. Melanie’s subject matter is the Australian landscape. Here, the beach captures our attention.

Peeking out from the bush, we are privy to an outlook—a view—a perspective of a mother artist tenderly dipping her toe into a new world of juggle. The ocean provides a respite, and the art, a refuge. Soft textural brush marks adorn the canvases in thick, fast-worked layers. Melanie doesn’t hide her process. Instead, hints of pink steal glimpses from under the blues and greens—of which there are plenty. There is a place to seek out within the canvas. Akin to the landscapes, the dense paint provides a space for us to retreat. SOFT SUMMER allows us to hide if we want to. The paintings don’t demand anything from us. Rather, they offer a refuge in the environment and the art.

Based in Bellingen on the NSW Mid North Coast, Melanie has a Bachelor Of Fine Arts from the National Art School and a Master Of Arts from UNSW. In 2019 Melanie was a finalist in the Hawkesbury Art Prize, in 2020 a finalist in the King’s School Art Prize and in 2021 a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize and the 9×5 Landscape Prize.