Clementines, Eucalyptus with Vase Painting

Melissa Shelly was always drawn to the arts though what form that would take wasn't always clear. After college, she worked, rather miserably, in the New York City advertising industry while studying acting and dance on the side. While she has painted most of her life, she holds a PhD in Psychology and has also had success as an actress and as a jewelry designer. This last decade has been spent in serious study of classical drawing and painting techniques considering herself a classical realist. Loving the outdoors, she just returned from a plein air sojourn in Italy, though she considers herself a studio oil painter using traditional methods of painting using 21st century tools. Only recently has she begun entering her work in juried competitions and has just won first place in the fine art category of Ithaca College's Arts and Literary Competition as well as placing in Viridian Artists' 22nd Annual Juried Show in New York City, curated by Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum. Her biggest challenge as an artist is finding the time to paint while raising a family. When we immerse ourselves into what we are seeing and feeling and apply that to the canvas, we truly manifest our inner being.