Coach and Teacher at Cimarron Middle School

Cimarron Independent School District

Cimarron, New Mexico

 

Mural Dimensions: 60’ wide x 15’ tall

“I have known and worked with Melinda for 18 years—she is an awesome artist.

In communicating with Melinda about this project I gave her an idea of what the school wanted for the gym wall. Our mascot is the mustang, and we wanted the mural to portray characteristics we want to instill in our kids. If you look at these horses you see how strong they are, they have a sense of endurance and agility, of focus . . . and a spirit of freedom. This mural goes hand-in-hand with what we teach, displaying traits that we want to cultivate in our students . . . Melinda captured exactly what we wanted.

I have recommended Melinda many times—she is creative and passionate; she has awesome vision for her work and goes “above and beyond” in all she does.”

Brian Gray
Director of the Philmont Training Center
National Volunteer Training Facility for the Boy Scouts of America

(Also the World’s Largest Youth Camp)

Cimarron, New Mexico

 

Mural Dimensions:

Assemby Hall 1,500 square feet (top)

Entry Hall 700 square feet 360 degrees (segment on right)

Dining Hall 500 square feet (not pictured)

“We train thousands of people from around the world in our facility each year. While here they are usually in classes, so we wanted them to get a feel for the beautiful scenery that our 137,000 acre ranch offers . . . to see the different mountains, different landscapes, and different animals.

We’ve commissioned Melinda three different times to do murals for Philmont, to bring the outside in, if you will, to show off the different parts of the ranch.

The work she has completed for us includes: 1) a 500 square foot, 8-panel series in our dining hall facility, featuring the American Bison, 2) a 1,500 square foot mural in our Assembly Hall and 3) a 700 square foot “surround sound” piece, which is a 360 degree mural in one our entry halls that captures the view from atop one of Philmont’s mountains and contains 22 different animals that live on the ranch.

The neat thing about Melinda is that she takes the ideas people have and really makes them count. She doesn’t just design something and paint it like some artists, she’ll ask you what you think, show you ideas and include you in the process. She not only understood what we envisioned . . . she took our ideas and expanded upon them, yet at the same time made sure that it was what we wanted.  Melinda is compassionate and caring. . . she is a fantastic artist and I would love to have her do additional work for us. We are trying to decide what other areas we want to show off next.”

John Sakelaris
Guest Services Manager
Vermejo Park Ranch
(A 600,000 acre guest ranch, destination hunting and fishing resort near Raton, New Mexico. )

 

“A friend of mine suggested that I get a painting done of a photo I had taken of a mountain lion in a tree—he said he knew just the person to do the work and introduced me to Melinda. She is dedicated to her work and excited about art, especially wildlife art.

As soon as I saw the painting I loved it! The thing I love about it is the image she has captured of the lion . . . I have an appreciation and an affinity for wildlife art, especially mountain lions. I notice and pay attention to mountain lion art  and out of all that I have seen I can honestly say I’ve only liked maybe one out of ten pieces—the image is so hard to capture. And what Melinda has done that really impresses me is capture the eyes, which is the hardest part to do, in my opinion, and the expression, as well. It’s done on some barn wood  . . . really shows the detail of the scene. The piece hangs in my home and the most I can tell you is this: the more I look at it . . . the more I like it.”