Buttons, Buttons, and More Buttons
April 30, 2024
Browse for original graphics, get painting ideas, and draw inspiration from plans and nature. Like my art, Madlantern Arts draws on my life experiences and is a place to share them with visitors like you!
Browse a collection of original graphics, many (actually, most!) are free to use on your personal projects. The original Madlantern Arts legacy graphics collection is being restored and brand new graphics will soon follow!
View a collection of painting experiments, typically acrylic on canvas, rock, or other surfaces. Or see painting ideas I'm scared to try. Take any and all of these ideas and paint them yourself. It's art, it's fun... don't take it too seriously!
I am Melanie Wilson, a web designer & developer in Oregon. When I’m not directly practicing my profession, I have a deep appreciation of life, love, and the natural world. While I may not be a master painter or honed fine artist by profession, I find art to be a way to begin to understand the unfathomable complexity of our existence. I believe that the creation of art should not be restricted to only those among us that have the deepest understanding of it and the most skill; art should be practiced by all who care to and be seen as a journey, not a destination — much like life itself. My purpose and overview with Madlantern Arts is to share what I do, in hope that it helps others feel comfortable trying art, sharing the experience with others, and finding personal and existential meaning in it.
One of my very favorite quotes is by an author unknown to me, but it goes something like this: “If the only the most talented songbirds in the forest were brave enough to sing, the forest would be a very quiet place.”
As a website, Madlantern Arts started as a playground for all of my various artistic projects well over 20 years ago! In early 2019 I pulled down the site to refocus and rejuvenate the idea behind it. In mid-2020, the pandemic gave me the time needed to begin to refocus the site and piece it back together. This includes retouching and re-publishing the Madlantern Arts legacy graphics collection, which includes several hundred graphics, as well as adding to the collection with new graphics, photos, and paintings.
I will continue to post updates in the blog, and you are welcome to reach out to me if you have comments, feedback or ideas for me.
Cheers!
~Melanie
Here’s a gray dolphin, leaping up and probably fully out of the water for this acrobatic maneuver. Free Graphic: Image
Avoid disaster by wearing a life vest like this one. Or maybe a more real one, you know. You never
Here is a fantasy castle with flags flying in the wind and perched in some white, fluffy clouds, with a
Here’s a cool gray mouse in sunglasses, pointing down at something, perhaps his cheerful little mouse friend who’s pointing back