Today we’d like to introduce you to Melvin Toledo.
Hi Melvin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My artistic journey started when I was a teenager back home in Nicaragua with drawings of manga and cartoon characters. After taking art classes and completing an apprenticeship with a family of artists in Honduras, I spent the next seven years dedicated to painting as my full time job. I painted mostly still lifes using a mixture of lithographic ink and oils and my uncle’s company sold them by going door to door across Honduras.
I met my wife while she was serving in the Peace Corps and after we got married, we moved to the US where I began painting with oils.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The first few years after I arrived to the US, I didn’t paint much. My wife was attending school so I did some other jobs to help pay the bills. In those days, I painted on the weekends and during any free time I had. The living room of our tiny 600 sq ft apartment was my art “studio.” After my wife finished school, we moved to Atlanta where I had more time to paint and to figure out how to sell my work (not surprisingly, door-to-door art sales are not as popular in the US as in Honduras). I tried auction style sales on Ebay for a while and sold some small paintings there, though some went for less than $20. After that, I got connected with galleries in Cincinnati, Ohio, Franklin, Tennessee, and Atlanta where I began to exhibit and sell my work. It was a little easier after that!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
For a long time, I mostly did still life paintings – I suppose one could say I was known for that. In the past 2-3 years, I’ve shifted focus to landscapes and portraiture. I am really excited about my portrait work, including a new series of portraits of immigrants in the United States. I think it’s a very meaningful work.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
For the last 8 years, my schedule has revolved around my kids – I was painting a few hours a day while they slept or were at school or daycare.
When my oldest son was an infant, I would get up around 4 am to get a few hours of painting in. I had big plans for 2020 as both kids were enrolled in our neighborhood school for a full school day for the first time and I’d finally have a good chunk of time during the day to paint. In February, I started the first painting in my immigrants series. It was a large (for me) painting. A month later Covid-19 hit and the kids were back home, full time, before I had a chance to finish the painting. I tried to keep working on it but having to deal with the kids and the stress of everything that was happening made it very difficult. It was hard, but I had to accept that those paintings would have to wait.
Instead, I started working on very small paintings, ones that didn’t require long sessions at the easel. I also completed many drawings, as that was easy to do while I sat down to help my 4-year-old son with his pre-school work and Zoom calls.
As 2020 progressed, my goal became to keep making art, to keep creating. Some good did come out of that time. The drawings I completed during those Zoom calls have inspired new work I’m doing right now. I’ve tried to view the past year and half as a reminder that when things don’t go as planned, you just have to find another way to keep moving forward, even if sometimes you need to take a step back.
Contact Info:
- Email: toledo.mel@gmail.com
- Website: http://www.melvintoledo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melvintoledo/?hl=en
