Melissa Smith is a self-taught artist originally from the beautiful countryside of Upstate New York. Raised on magnificent farmland there, surrounded by animals and nature, inspired Melissa to become an adamant animal lover and influenced her passion for the natural world.
In her pet portraits, Melissa expresses her joy in both the love of painting and her love of animals by capturing a very special essence, unique to each animal. Our pets give us unconditional love and she is proud to have found a way to honor and commemorate them. Melissa finds painting house pets a particular joy, especially capturing candid moments in time, in a cherished pet's life. She works primarily from photographs where subjects are often painted at play, exploring, or resting. The bond between the pet and owner and the profound love many people have for their pets truly inspires her. The paintings not only achieve a great likeness, they capture the personality and spirit.
In her landscapes, Melissa explores the beauty of nature with an emphasis on the seasons and close-up perspectives of natural elements. Her paintings are the materialization of her passion of searching for those small windows in life in which to escape. Serene soothing colors and almost fortuitous brush strokes often combined with bold textural elements achieved with palette knife, reveal a longing to be in the painting, in this amazing place and in the moment; a tranquil state of mind.
