My name is Melissa and I am a painter, a writer, and a spiritual seeker.  All of my life, I have been studying what this human thing is all about.  Why are we here?  What is enlightenment?  How do I find peace in my heart?  How do I heal from childhood trauma?  How do I stop self harming behavior?  How do I make meaningful connections with others?  What is my purpose in this world?  Am I capable of love and bonding?  What do I really want and how do I manifest that life?  I have been trying to understand my story.  I remember when I was very small asking my Mom about the meaning of life.  I have always wanted to understand.  I have always been fascinated by the intersection of the brain, the mind, and the soul.  What are we?  What is this place?  Why is everyone so mad and sad?  How can we do this better?

You can learn more about my art here.  I paint as a way of expressing my emotions.  I paint to heal myself.  I paint to connect with the world.

Many years ago, I went to art school and got a degree and painted a lot.  Then I quit painting because I hated art galleries and the art establishment.  Jeff Koons was all the rage then and he pretty much sums up what I hate about the art world.  So I quit making art and I took a corporate type job.  Then 9/11 happened and I started painting again.  Then I got a phone call in the night from an Angel about God.  (Remind me to tell you that story some time.)  That got my attention and I decided to paint full time.  I painted every day for 15 years.  Then I quit again and did something entirely different – but still investigating wisdom and power and freedom and healing – for about a decade.  I did not paint at all for a decade.  That is wild to me.

Then I fell in love with a man and separately with a musician who took his own life and the hopeful love and the sad love together cracked my heart in a way I can never really explain.  But my known Universe expanded in a dizzying rush.  There was much fallout.  It took a couple of years for me to find some context for all of the new perceptions I was having.  I am still confused and on fire for all the new ideas and feelings I am experiencing, really.  But about 10 months ago I started to paint again and once I started I could not stop.  I have made 150 new paintings since then.  The art is in me and it has to come out.

I am grateful to be painting again but I am also a little bewildered by how these images are pouring out of me.  My style has changed considerably.  I now work mostly with spray paint and acrylic.  I use lots and lots of stencils.  Combined with traditional brushwork.  And I layer many many layers of imagery and texture.  My old work felt like the doodles of a girl who needed comfort.  These new pieces feel like the visions of a woman who has lived.  I like that, I like these pieces, I am grateful for them.  But I am also just generally amazed that they are here.  It is an intense feeling to paint now after going so long without.

Thank you for visiting with me here.  Please adopt some of my art.  I want it to go live with you now.  🙂

Melissa

 

(Also, I still paint custom pet portraits.  You can learn more about those here:  BuyPetPaintings.com)