With the palette knife as her tool and oil paint as her medium, Brooks uses layering and scraping techniques to develop textural & organic paintings that engage the viewer on many levels. Although no painting suggests a particular place, each one invites the viewer to reflect through the unconfined imagery. Brooks' subject matter ranges from ethereal interpretations of landscapes to the soothing simplicity of abstract minimalism. “I love to experiment with loose representational and organic forms, as I recreate an array of nature’s colorways. Being presented with a blank canvas is most exciting to me because it is then that my palette knife, my hands and my ideas have the fewest restrictions.” Using silver leaf in collage application introduces a smooth, shiny component that adds to the complexity of her artwork.
Victoria Brooks Melly was born in New York City and lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was educated in the traditional disciplines of figurative painting and drawing at the prestigious Parson's School of Design. Brooks' passion for art as a tool to demonstrate the magnificence of nature encourages her to spend extensive time in her studio producing expressive oil paintings. Her rare ability to capture nature’s subtle color palette, organic forms and harmonic balance has fueled the popularity of her artwork. Building on a foundation of traditional education from Greenwich Academy and St. Lawrence University, Brooks traveled the world designing and developing an assortment of products for IKL International, Talbots and JCREW. Her work is featured in many private collections in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.
