Defined in Ink

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Scales, feathers and bones. Big, beady eyes and sharp spiny claws, pods and thorns. Armour plating – armadillo, pangolin, weevil, beetle…rhino. Defenses – teeth, camouflage, flight. Fear, territorial, maternal. My artwork is about all of these, in portraits both intimate and definitive, and as close to character as I can get, in my own way, within my own understanding.

Mellissa Bushby Artwork is about nature. It’s about the embodiment of living things – simplicity, loyalty, majesty, curiousness, quirkiness, and even cruelty, they beguile, enchant and bewitch us. The delicacy of a silken petal unfurling, the tragedy of a dying giant, wether it be an elephant or a baobab, and the years of wisdom and knowledge that die with them. It’s about sleek, it’s about vivid, it’s about breathtaking, formidable and awe-inspiring. And somewhere we must retain an engram of a time when life was simpler, easier, less about greed and want and need. It becomes liminal after a while – the point beyond which we feel sensation is saturated, and something begins to fade.

My art is also about life, what is left of it, and how precious it is, how important to preserve it, wether it be for sentimental, survival, practical or pragmatic reasons. Because sometimes the armour, the teeth, the spines, the claws and flight are not enough. Not anymore. No matter how big – think elephant and rhino, no matter how fierce – think tiger and polar bear, no matter how streamlined and fast – think great white shark and leopard, and no matter how important – think honeybee – we are killing them. Slowly and steadfastly.

So look closely, and maybe you will find something close to your heart. Closer than you thought. Perhaps the vivid red of a carmine bee-eater in flight can make you catch your breath, or the despair of the endangered status of wild dogs might inspire you to rethink their place in the world. Maybe the wanton slaughter of rhinos can break your heart, or the mystical bubbling and sparkling of a tree frog’s call in the dark hours may inspire a forgotten memory of candlelit nights in the bushveld, listening to the sighing of the wind.

Please enter my world, and I hope you find something that inspires and delights, just as I have delighted in bringing these endlessly diverse and extraordinary entities to life on paper. Every one of these has a character unique unto itself. May something touch you enough to want to take it home, and may it bring pleasure and peace into your life.

About the Artwork

All Mellissa Bushby Artwork is printed on 200 gsm, acid-free paper.

Coloured ink washes and black ink is used to create an original.

Limited edition print runs are made, never more than 50 of each illustration.

Originals are available on request.

Please note that all content is protected by copyright and cannot be used in any way without the permission of the artist.