Daily Inspiration: Meet Melissa Renee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Renee.

Hi Melissa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I began my career in the beauty industry and consider it my first love. Not only have I worked behind the chair as a color specialist, but I have also educated for a major hair color company throughout the US as well. In the recent past, I worked as a National Sales Manager for a startup beauty company where I was given creative freedom to help develop the company logo, color packaging choices, and new product development.

Eleven months after launching our first product, it won the Behind The Chair Stylist Choice Award for Favorite New Styling Product. I have a business side to me as well as a creative side. On the DISC personality profile, I am dominant/conscientious with a core of creativity. I was shaped by country living, and sunny days spent at the beach in Southern California. The ocean captivated my heart, inspiring the name fiery for deep blue. My love of the water is expressed in my ocean resin paintings on wood panels.

Although resin seascapes make up a large portion of the work I do, I also love to work with other mediums. Creating contemporary pieces with the addition of glitter, metallic, and a bold color palette provides a nice contrast to my serene pieces. I’m a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Since then, I taught myself how to work with resin and fell in love with it.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth… not so much. The biggest struggle I had was the loss of my younger sister to a tragic event while I was in art school. Losing a family member is something that stays with you forever. I had to learn how to process that loss and move forward with life. Fortunately for me, I have a driver personality and that has given me the ability to push ahead.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My primary media is resin on wood panels. I love the reflective properties that resin has to offer. Not only am I known for dramatic seascapes, I am also known for my vibrant desert, and land-scapes as well. I begin my process by priming a wood panel then using spray paint, I mark out the flow I want to emphasize onto the board.

The base color is important since it helps to support the vibrancy of the colored pigments that I choose to mix in. Working with a two-part epoxy resin, I mix various inks, pastes, micas, and powdered pigments. The varying weights of the pigments interact differently causing some to sink to the bottom and others to float to the top. A torch and heat gun are used to manipulate and move the resin around the board.

Since resin begins to harden as soon as it’s introduced to heat, I work quickly to manipulate the resin by looking for balance through color and form. Each piece requires multiple layers of resin to achieve depth and dimension; therefore, it can take some time to complete a piece. What I love the most about working with resin is its unpredictability. Resin has a mind of its own and being able to manipulate it into something beautiful excites me.

What does success mean to you?
To me, success is an inner joy, personal contentment. It’s not attached to a dollar figure.

Contact Info:

• Email: fieryfordeepblue@gmail.com
• Website: www.fieryfordeepblue.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieryfordeepblue/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Melissa-Renee-107896508348177

Image Credits
@86pics