We recently connected with Melody Macias and have shared our conversation below.
Melody, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
One of my most meaningful projects is my sleepyhead painting from late 2021. I painted it from a childhood photograph of when I fell asleep on the couch with a half-eaten banana in hand.
When I first drew it onto the canvas, I had no idea where this piece was going to go. In fact, it took 3 months of back and forth due to color palette and stylistic indecision. This was the project that challenged me to not give up on an idea, even though that’s exactly what I wanted to do after 2 weeks when nothing felt right.
Typically, when something didn’t work out with a piece, I would just start over. Detaching from end results helped me with problem-solving, since I would try different starting approaches to projects. However, making sleepyhead pushed me to work with what I had and to use the painting process as an exploration. Rather than painting white over the whole thing and starting over, I took the time to rework areas I wasn’t content with. I felt like I was re-learning to love the process of making art again.
Image-wise, I wanted to depict how it felt being a child. I was a sleepy kid and dreams of nature brought me great comfort. They were always bright, fluid, and colorful. Sleeping on the couch was like sleeping in a field of warm grass, especially if you had a cozy blanket. That warm, peaceful feeling was like no other.
My ambition to create lies within celebrating life. My memories – documented and undocumented – often inform my creative process. I remember an emotion, a texture, a sound, and try to capture those moments in a colorful way. This painting served as the pilot for several other paintings and illustrations by giving me a clear vision and direction. sleepyhead was also the piece that inspired me to use fruit as a symbol across other projects.
Incorporating fruits in my work is my way of bringing in more color and lightheartedness to the work. Fruits represent community and life through their unique qualities and how they are universally shared. Growing up in a Cuban family in Miami meant there were plenty bowls of cut fruit, growing our own fruit trees, and sharing them with family and friends. I make art to cultivate a community around shared memories and experiences as a means of celebrating life together.
Melody, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
People know me as Melody, Mel, meldoof, or even just “doof.” I came up with meIdoof in high school when I first created an Instagram account and the name always stuck. Now I use “doof” as a way to brand some of my work and as a silly nickname.
Regarding craft: I’ve always had to make things. Ever since I was in pre-K, I was making comics, writing stories, drawing on the walls at home. A big reason reason I’m an artist today is because people in my life believed in me. What if my mom hadn’t given me my first sketchbook because she grew tired of me using up all the copy paper? What if Andrew from middle school hadn’t given me my first nice pencil set on my 13th birthday? What if my dad hadn’t given me honest critique and feedback? I don’t know what would have happened.
People believing in me took me to college, where I earned a BFA in graphic design and painting at the University of Miami. If I’m being honest, I started graphic design because it seemed like a practical approach for a creative career. I was concerned with the starving artist narrative my family was feeding me and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life–as if anybody at the age of 18 ever knows what they want to do with their life. I just knew I wanted to make things. Learning graphic design allowed me to develop different skill sets. I didn’t realize back then how it would help me in countless ways, such as developing products and packaging, web design, and even launching an art shop.
I’m so grateful for everybody who has been on this journey with me. Nothing I do today would be possible without the people who supported me from day 1, the people who joined along the way, the loved ones and strangers who commission me, the team I currently work with, and those who push me to take risks and try new things.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative in your experience?
Easily community. Getting to share your processes with other artists and creatives as well as learning from each other has got to be the most rewarding in my book.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I’ve had to unlearn some patterns over the years regarding creating for productivity’s sake. While there is a time and place where productivity is necessary, it doesn’t have to consume your hobbies or passions all the time. I’ve had to relearn how to take things slow and have fun with the creating process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.melodymacias.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meldoof
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/melodymacias
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/meldoof