Melissa is a Colorado native who grew up knowing she would become a veterinarian, that is until life circumstances changed her path. She found photography and a creative mentor her senior year in high school which started her love affair with art.
 
Melissa was a non-traditional student right from the start, she took a semester off after high school and started at Hastings College in Nebraska midyear.
 
The art department there had a surprisingly high percentage of red head students so she fit right in and spent every waking moment in the art building where she explored many different mediums including traditional glassblowing, sculpture and ceramics.
 
After a year and a half she decided she missed the majestic Rocky Mountains too much and moved back to Colorado.
 
Over the next 15 years she took college classes as jobs, time and money allowed, finally earning her BFA from Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado. As soon as she had her degree in hand, Melissa and her husband sold almost everything they owned, bought a motorhome, packed up their two cats and some art supplies and hit the open road.
 
Having limited storage space she turned to drawing and painting small pieces, often working at picnic tables at the campgrounds and RV parks where they stayed. Due to the craziness that is the year 2020, she is back in Colorado, living close to family and friends and dreaming of future adventures.
 
Her love of animals is still evident in her choice of subjects, cats being her biggest focus, though she is currently exploring landscape painting as well. Melissa wants to help end pet homelessness and since she can't take in every animal that needs a loving home, she donates 10% of all her sales to no kill animal shelters throughout Colorado.

Melissa's Work