Melissa Lyons

I am a God taught artist, living by faith every single day. I did not go to college and I have never taken an art class. I started painting after an encounter with a mural on a wall that captured my attention . God simply asked me to start painting that day. So February 12, 2012 I bought some paint and some canvas and set out on the most terrifying and exciting journey of my life. I had no idea what to paint or what I was even doing but shortly after I started, I began to feel a sense of awakening that I have never felt before. I started to feel alive again after many years spent covered in anxiety and depression, paired with feelings of no purpose and of no hope. I love to paint ocean scenes, boats and flowers. Typically I tend to paint more based on a feeling or an emotion instead of setting out to paint a specific object. I want you to feel something and your soul to be moved. Being a new artist, I am always exploring new scopes of work, new subject matter, and I love that each day brings a new opportunity to discover and draw out new inspiration and talent within myself. I believe that life itself is art and my canvas is just the vehicle I use to express it. I love exploring new techniques and mediums and my inspiration is usually a beautiful photograph or a song that stirs my soul. My desire is to leave you feeling a sense of peace and assurance that life is beautiful and you are loved. That is how I feel when I look at a beautiful, vast ocean or a bouquet of flowers or anything else our amazing God has created. I pray my art is a tangible example that we were all created for something. It is my hearts desire that everyone who encounters my art would realize they are not too broken to be fixed, never too lost to be found, and not too small to be used. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and my heart will always be in that city. I am a military wife, proudly supporting my husband who is a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy. We have two beautiful daughters and live a very crazy life. We move all the time, usually about every 2- 3 years. Most days you can find me in my home studio (my kitchen) painting away while my girls are at school, or while Im helping with homework or cooking dinner. I feel blessed to be able to stay home with them while they are small and have my work inside my home. They also love to paint alongside of me which brings me much joy!