Mel mccuddin - figurative expressionist workshop

Mel McCuddin, the prolific and beloved Spokane artist whose work blended vibrant colors, plenty of whimsy and sometimes just a pinch of darkness, died Monday at age 89.

McCuddin, who worked as a truck driver and painted at night until retirement allowed him to create full time, painted canvases large and small, frequently working on multiple paintings at once in the backyard studio of the Millwood home where he and his wife of 69 years, Gloria, raised their family.

Six large-scale McCuddin paintings hang inside Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, and his works have been collected across the globe.

His process always started with paint on the canvas, and no preconceived idea of what the subject would be.

As he told former Spokesman-Review columnist Doug Clark in 2016, “I begin a painting with no idea in mind, and at a certain point in the process of putting paint on the canvas, an idea will sugges