88 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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By Jan Westmark-Allan
T
he frst thing I notice when I walked into Louise Mellon’s
sunny art studio in Aiken, South Carolina, is that it makes
me smile. The walls are covered with Louise’s vivid
artwork – from traditional pieces that take your breath away to the
quirky ones like her “Olympic Show Bull Jumping” painting that
causes you to not only smile, but chuckle out loud.
Louise is a well known equestrian artist and a long time friend
of Sidelines Magazine. I was fortunate to be able to visit her farm
while in Aiken and was delighted to meet the person behind the art.
I was also enchanted by her studio, where all the magic happens.
Louise’s studio is a welcome spot for people and animals alike
and her Corgi, Ruffes, roams freely while a parade of Shetland
Ponies, chickens and pigs (the big ones, not the pot-bellied
version) walk past the giant windows. It isn’t unusual to fnd her
pony, Little Richard, in the studio posing as a “live” subject, either.
In the barn across the courtyard, Louise’s two handsome grey
Connemara ponies, Linus and Lance, also provide inspiration for
her artwork.
For an artistic person like Louise, the studio is all about creating
art that can make someone smile. “It’s such a dire time for so
many people and if I can bring a smile to people than it makes it
worth it. I paint to cheer people up and I love it when they ‘get’ my
art,” Louise said. What Louise wants people to get is the humor
in her paintings. “My favorite thing to paint is humor and animals.
People always ask me where my ideas come from and the answer
is that I’ve always seen the twist in everything. Plus I have real
life inspiration such as the time a hen was attacking one of my
Connemaras.”
Louise points to a painting on the wall called “Barnyard Mayhem”
that shows a naughty pony chasing a rooster. The painting makes
me smile. “In real life, the hen went for him, few up on his back
and gave him what for as he galloped across the paddock,” Louise
says with a laugh. “Cheering people up is so important. Life is too
precious not to smile.”
If there is anyone who knows how precious life can be, it is
Louise. As a passenger in a carriage ride in Maine in 2000, she
was thrown head frst into a stone wall at high speed. She suffered
multiple broken bones, underwent four surgeries and incurred
brain trauma, which brought on early onset Essential Tremor.
While Louise has recovered from the accident, the Essential
Tremor left her with hands that shake – a recipe for disaster for
an artist that makes her living creating with her hands. “I can’t not
paint or create, it’s genetic and pre-programmed into me,” Louise
explained, adding that before the accident she created jewelry
and highly detailed paintings. “Now, because I can’t control my
hands, I have switched to pastels or oil pastels, which is kind of
like using crayons.”
Louise demonstrates how she has to brace her arm to paint
now. While her style has changed, her creative spirit and love
of art – passed down from her family – remains. Louise grew
up in Middleburg, Virginia in a family of artists. “All the women
in my family are professional artists. My mother is 95 and still in
business. We have great work ethics and creativity is what keeps
us going,” she said.
While visiting a friend in Aiken in 1999, Louise did the unexpected
and on her third day in town she bought a house. Now named
Unbridled Farm, she is quick to point out that the house was a
horrible mess. “It took three years to bring it back. I added the barn
and the studio. I love coming into this studio to work.”
Louise isn’t the only one who gets to use the studio. In keeping
Art
That
Makes
You
Smile
Louise in her bright and airy studio flled
with tables of oil pastels. Notice the
great paintings hanging on the walls.