Mel's initial career was in the sciences, inventing microchips for University College Cork. Mel decided to pursue an artistic career in the late 1990's moving through various night schools to the Byam Shaw School of Art in London as a Scholarship pupil. Mel has had numerous exhibitions in London and Ireland, some solo and some joint, both in conventional gallery spaces and more 'alternative' venues such as cafes, bars and churches. Mel's art is in part inspired through the experiences in the sciences: Mel remembers Einstein stating that he 'wondered what it would be like to sit on a photon of light; the work aims to capture some of that imagination. There are swirls of colour and light, and a dynamic, almost dancing energy. Mel is interested in producing work which is 'unconventional' and 'provocative' and yet uses the oldest method of creating art that is known, the art of painting.