Melanie Florio

I painted “The Early Birds” with faith in the old saying “the early bird catches the worm”, but also the knowing that sometimes that worm isn’t caught until weeks, years, or even decades of optimistically catching smaller worms, with the expectation that the Mother-Worm just around the corner!! 

If you know me then you know I do a LOT of pet portraits, and last year when I was feeling particularly self indulgent I decided to paint my littlest chihuahua (we have 3) named Frida after the great artist herself! Here is the reference photo taken in my LA backyard (hence, no grass :( ) for this painting. I put the image on candles and the finished piece is showing at Lovetts Gallery in Oklahoma. Frida Kahlo approved- hahah! 

Just a little still life on a beautiful day! 

I originally  titled this painting “Bright Morning Hail” like the name of the song on the music sheet, but when I was having a show last year my friend at Hotchkis Gallery accidentally and randomly typed in the showcard title “Good Morning Peter”!?! and it was so delightfully random that it stuck, and even though my friend’s name is NOT Peter, not even close...I will forever smile thinking about how it got its name, and because it reminds me of good coffee and good friends.

I have a few more jello ideas in mind. Did this with a little Christmas ornament...and I think it would be so cool to create a little scene inside an ornate mold for another painting...we shall see?

Remember that post about the salmon mousse and other food oddities that I created for a still life painting that stunk up my place? Well here was the final outcome- titled “Suspended”. And just for fun I also painted this lobster gelatin with a side of shrimp cocktail. And yes, I know.....I just couldn’t help myself. 

Wow- thanks so much!!! 

I was sort of stuck towards the end of the painting, and was cleaning my palette and considering how to pull it all together. I felt that it was lacking gusto. I scraped the paint off of my glass palette and it rolled into a really interesting bof swirling blob, and so I applied that built up paint blob directly to the foreground (in front of the blood orange). Immediately I felt like I was playing again, and the entire purpose of this painting was play, so I was satisfied, and it helped lead me to a level of finish that I like.  

I was about ready to start crying with grief that I just spent 70 hours on the weirdest dead-end painting of my life when a good friend called me in the nick of time and gave me the most wonderful advice: stop for the night- sit back and relax with a beverage of choice in hand, and laugh at this odd thing that has consumed my thoughts. And in total amusement, I think I found the answer that I needed to finish this collage of curiosities...the painting has now informed me that “it needs a colorful napkin draped in the left corner of the table”.  

Anyone else want a dog portrait? Let me know :) 

If you are familiar with my work, you already know that I am practically obsessed with images of people sitting at the kitchen table, and I kept imagining a slightly older Dorothy sitting at the kitchen table. She sits in my imagination sipping her morning coffee, thinking of her to-do’s for the day, and every so often  the memory of Oz barely becomes tangible before it slips away into the pre-coffee fog of morning again.  

This painting came together obviously inspired by the movie “The Birds”. I found out that my friend who was modeling for it is actually terrified of all birds. I took her to a duck pond one afternoon to do a silly little pin-up painting of her feeding the ducks, which she agreed to because she is such a great friend, and then when we got there- this was the most pin-uppy she could get as the ducks were chasing her down for the loaf of bread! I found out during the photoshoot that she was actually terrified of the ducks, and her expressions were priceless! The photoshoot thus was pretty short and sweet- but hilarious. Yes, she was laughing too. After the photoshoot went horribly wrong and horribly right at the same time, the painting’s concept completely shifted from a friendly feeding to a frenzied feeding! The birds had to change to chickens because I chuckle every time I see chickens fly. 

This little painting is 8x10, oil on masonite panel, and was finished in one painting session.   

Hope you enjoy!