“I can not describe how much coastal imagery is in my heart . I am not sure if I could ever STOP painting that’s how strong it is. I have painted nearly every single day for the past 13 years and I NEVER once have felt bored or uninspired. I can’t even put it into words. The summertime cape cod/ low country/ Midwest summer / 4 th of July , Jersey Shore , Nantucket , Boston vibe is just in my heart . I am obsessed with boats, oysters and shells, seafood , fruit , the ocean , lake life , Americana , hydrangeas and peonies , navy blue , white , brass , stripes …. If you are one of the thousands of people who has my art I just want you to know that it’s such a pleasure for me to paint and create for your home! I could never be an abstract painter who doesn’t use coastal colors and I could never be confined to one subject . I am a summer baby and I enjoy everything that goes along with that . I grew up in Chicago as you all know and my favorite thing to do was to ride the train downtown for the taste of Chicago and also all the 4th of July festivals . My favorite thing to do was to grill outside on the deck and stay until the lightning bugs came out or ride my bike as a kid several miles each way to our town pool. My art comes from this place of simple life , enjoying the simple joys that God gives us in this world. Corn on the cob ! Staying at the beach through sunset ! Jumping off a dock at the lake! Sunburnt cheeks ! Salty hair! Coolers full of sandwiches and fresh fruit! This is Melissa Lyons Art .”
I heard the Lord tell me to start painting in Jan 2012.
I did not actually hear an audible voice, but I was staring into a mural at a house we were looking to rent and I felt an actual shift happen in me because although art has always been a part of my life, I had never painted before. My last art class was in school as a child and I never had it in my head EVER that I would be an artist. I had dabbled in oil pastels and sketch books but that was it. So it clearly wasn't ME telling me to paint.
It was a sweet, soft, encouraging voice in my spirit that said, do it.
So Feb 12, 2012 I went and bought some cheap canvas and some paint and I painted a bird. I didn't even know what to paint but it came very natural to me. It was exhilarating and I felt different. Like there was something secret inside me that I had never known.
I became published and my artwork started to move to stores such as Kirklands and Hobby Lobby and Bed Bath and Beyond. Who picks up a paint brush and 2 years to the day, becomes a signed, published artist?
I did.
But then I started to feel a disconnect. I painted a few hundred paintings and most were very well received and sold but then the interest stopped because I was no longer painting from the heart, I was painting to fill a need for a store.I no longer had that amazing creative feeling, the feeling of freedom. I was only making art for it to land in a store and it all became very mechanical and business (y). So 2 years after I was published, I decided to move on and follow my own artistic journey.
The thing is, art supplies cost a lot of money. And it costs the artist a lot of their heart, soul and mind to create authentic works and be vulnerable to the world. So there is this constant battle going on for an artist to sell their work and it to be current and popular or risk it all and create from the heart and possibly never sell another painting.
I chose number 2.
artist statement
I find that my biggest weakness in art is also my greatest asset and that is, I am not confined to subject. I simply can not turn off the part of me that wanders and travels down many paths and loves to try something new every time I pick up a paint brush. I feel that most of my work (the best work) is drawn from the prompting of the Holy Spirit since, that is how this all began and for me to say no to that, is devastating and has cost me in other areas of life.
I am deeply moved and inspired by contrast and negative space. I almost always incorporate negative space in every single piece.
I also love to paint subjects in their natural environments such as flowers in the fields as opposed to flowers in vases.
I love to paint " moments" . I imagine a farmers wife purchasing my cows and feeling joy and pride when looking at them. Or an avid sailor displaying one of my boat paintings and looking at it daily with a sense of peace and longing to be out on the sea... Or a fashion forward , young girl fresh out of college saving up her money and purchasing a bold floral or a soft abstract as a preservation of the moment of excitement and freedom one experiences when starting a new career or life journey. Or maybe a new mom purchases one of my pillows and uses it to bring joy and peace while holding their baby on that chair she bought that she uses for late night feedings...Or maybe the rancher buys some abstract horses running across the canvas and is reminded of the beauty and awe he experiences daily.. being able to work with such majestic, strong creatures.
I love to paint those moments.
I am extremely inspired by pattern. I can't tell you the stuff that goes on inside me when I see repeating objects or colors or shapes.
I am also drawn to single colours. I love painting abstracts using one color with different hues or florals in all blue. I feel so deeply moved by color that I almost HAVE to use it when I feel it. I associate colours with emotions. I don't choose this, it just happens such as the green shaggy carpet that lined my grandmas condo in my childhood. Whenever I see a vintage green, I am filled with joy and gratitude. I guess color is just my language.
I also associate different genres with color such as blue with boats and green with landscapes and pink with florals and I feel I am happiest with my work when I represent subjects with their natural colors such as painting trees green and sail boat sails white and animals in rusty browns and blacks.
This is an ever changing story that is constantly evolving and moving and that is exciting. Some days I just don't know where any of this is going but its the strangest thing, I HAVE TO PAINT.
Its almost like it so much a part of me and who I was created to be that I cant stop, even at the most discouraging moments. And there are many.
I just love to paint.
