A professional artist since 1977, Ray-Mel has received commissions from clients as diverse as the Boy Scouts of America, the Dallas Opera, Dell Publishing, Electra Records, Frito Lay, GTE, Hyperion Press, The Los Angeles Times, Minute Maid, The New York Times, Ocean Spray, Samsung, Time Inc., and The Washington Opera. His work has received recognition from the New York Society of Illustrators and Graphis, Communication Arts and Print Magazines.

After graduating with a degree in art from what was then East Texas State University, Ray-Mel lived and worked in Los Angeles and Houston before settling back in Dallas. He now lives there with his wife, Becky, and an ebb and flow of Feline-American adopted children, including Scout (A.K.A. El Gato Pequeno del Diablo) and Gem Sneakers, with fond memories of Ridley, Stevie Ray, Tink, and Whisper.

Inspired by a trip to Northern New Mexico in 1996, Ray-Mel started to pursue his interest in landscape painting and has been on a dual illustration/painting track since then. He sees illustration and fine art as two sometimes-quarrelsome siblings of the same family, and so far he’s been able to keep them in the same studio without too much chaos. For him, illustration serves to enhance and illuminate other forms of communication, such as literature, music, and news.

Ray-Mel’s paintings reflect an interest in the landscape and the mythologies that accompany it. They give him the opportunity to explore representational and abstract subjects, with occasional forays into figurative interpretations of Americana and folklore.