Melnikov was an excellent landscape painter from the last 60 years of the Soviet Era.  He painted many state sponsored themes, and has his work in many Soviet Era office and factory buildings.  He painted the beautiful countryside scenes mainly in early Summer to memorialize the beauty of the land he loved.  He painted these for himself and his family.  

He followed the lead of Vassiliy Petrovich Kossenkov (1919-1992) and painted what he liked, thus he did not always find good favor from the government.  He was born in the "breadbasket" are of central Ukraine.  He did not seek fame, but loved painting.  He was not promoted well by the government but he was known as a qualified painter.