Mel - The Penny Drops

I know my art is moving, but the real reason for the earth moving under my feet today was The Studio’s first earthquake 🫨

Bokeh art reminds you that softness isn’t about losing focus, but about gaining perspective. (When you stop fixating on tiny flaws and pesky details, the bigger picture - full of light & beauty - comes into view 🤩.)

Does the Great New Zealand Summer Shut Down end tonight? I’ve just been in Chch for a week: there were 4 galleries I couldn’t visit due to their extended summer break. Mind you, I was also on an extended summer break, so my own ability to deliver has been deferred: home now & shipping art tomorrow 🙌🏼

We‘ve gotta stop looking as ourselves so critically - with such hyper focus. Time to soften our gaze and get on with enjoying the beauty we already have.
Yours faithfully,
A Bokeh Artist (who smiles with her mouth closed because she hates her teeth 🫣)

Every time I’ve seen an adult friend or acquaintance who’s got braces for the first time, my first though is “I never noticed they had ‘bad’ teeth”.
It’s given me great comfort: I’m sure that of the myriad of negative thoughts we have about our own bodies, nobody else has ever noticed.

An artist sits on a chair in her studio in front of 2 bokeh artworks, wearing a white top and blue jeans. She has curly brown hair, red earrings and is smiling.

“I don’t believe in the ‘tortured artist’ stereotype - how can we be tormented when our eyes are so finely attuned to the beauty all around us?”
~ Mel, the happiest #artist in the world ☺️

An artist’s easel with a square canvas with 1 coat of paint on a blurry Bokeh scene of Dunedin New Zealand

Happy painting day - school’s out UNTIL FEBRUARY 😮 so I’ve enlisted my 2 older daughters to take turns looking after their lil brother 2 hours a day… amazing what an under-the-pump-artist can get done when the clock’s ticking ⏳
Painting: Dunedin, NZ 🇳🇿

This #painting was the most popular at yesterday’s workshop - sparkling lights on New Zealand’s #laketeanau - framed in one of my custom round frames 👌🏼🤩💙

New Zealand Artist Mel Mckenzie’s studio is set up with tables covered in white tablecloths and summer flowers. A green wall is behind the tables with art hanging on it and festive starburst lights.

Studio looking festive in preparation for its first #Christmas workshop

A lovely group of friends came along for some Christmas decoration making and refreshments.

A vase with 5 stems of peony on a coffee table in an art studio.

#ArtStudio peonies on the edge of blooming right out 💕

Being a #bokeh artist is a curious mix of noticing life’s beautiful details - and then blurring away the minutiae to leave the beauty and the light on the canvas 🤩🤪

An outstretched arm holds a bunch of freshly picked white roses against a backdrop of lush green lawn.

Happy first day of #summer! 🤍

Morning light in The Studio makes waking up early worth it 🤩

Image of a bed with freshly made sheets

I’m going to completely contradict myself here 🤭, but *even* as an artist who preaches #softness AND has experienced the absolute joy of selling SIX originals this week 🥰 - the feeling of slipping between the crisp sheets of a freshly-made bed is, quite simply, incomparable. 👌🏼🤗

The Penny Drops: NZ bokeh art, moody landscapes & botanical portraits The Penny Drops is the Southland-based studio of award winning New Zealand artist Mel McKenzie. Specializing in blurry, bokeh paintings, moody landscapes & soulful botanical portrait paintings. Fine a...

… with any order this week 😘 - let’s call it BLUE Friday instead 💙

www.thepennydropsart.co.nz

Interrupting the usual chronicles of softness (because an artist has to make a living too 💁🏻‍♀️) to let you know I’m NOT doing Black Friday - no discounts out of respect for my previous collectors, but by way of ‘giving thanks’ get these 3 Bokeh prints free…

The algorithm here has figured out that #citylights are my jam - all your pics of the big northern hemisphere #cities with so much #Bokeh potential giving me some serious #wanderlust… meanwhile, this is my #studio 🐄☘️🌱💙

Making her Bluesky debut - doing some #grounding with me at lunchtime. Beaut day for it 🙌🏼☀️
#dogsofbluesky

Favourite season alert! 🍂
What’s yours??

Thanks for inviting us along for the challenge - Autumn is far and away my favourite season 🍂👌🏼

3/ the value and beauty of softness, one ‘Bokeh ball’ of light at a time.

2/ It softened a source of #anxiety into a fun ritual each day.
This morning the kid behind him joined in.

We don’t always know who needs a bit of extra #softness in their day, which is why I’ll always put softness on a pedestal. Through my art, I’m celebrating and reminding us all of…

One of my kids had been a little #nervous about getting on the school bus - especially when his sibling was not with him. He took to keeping a #connection with me by waving non-stop until the bus was out of sight and eventually that morphed into rock:paper:scissors through the window - so cute 🫠… ⬇️

Realised I never named the podcast! I was Ep. 270 of the Art Juice podcast with Alice Sheridan and Louise Fletcher - I’m sure most artists will know it well 👌🏼

Chicago is top of my list of US cities to visit and subsequently paint in my bokeh style 🤩

And when you look in the mirror, say to yourself the same soft words you’d tell your bestie - see the beauty in yourself as you do in them.

Softness applies equally to yourself as it does to others.

Which is why I elevate softness in my art: a metaphor & reminder to you - you deserve it too 🤗

Interesting discussion on #peoplepleasing as part of Epidode 270… you’d think applying The Philosophy of Softness makes you a push over - too eager to please. But in affording yourself the same softness, you put your own needs on an equal footing to the other person’s.

Fab afternoon - barefoot - in the garden catching up on my #grounding experiment.

Not going to try and pass these peonies off as #homegrown though - we have a #flowerfarm in our school community who generously donate these peonies as a school fundraiser 🙌🏼

Fresh flowers for my Studio this week!

As a mum of 4, I can appreciate the mental load that takes off 🙌🏼 Enjoy!

As a Bokeh artist, adding New Orleans to my list of cities to visit 🤩✨

Thanksgiving isn’t a *thing* here in NZ… what makes the prior Friday so good?