Melanie Nolker

I come from a long line of artists. My grandfather (George Melville Stone) studied at the Academie Julian in Paris in the late 1800’s and had paintings exhibited in the prestigious Salon Exhibition. I grew up with his paintings on my walls and feel his presence and encouragement in my art life.

After a first career in early childhood and special education, I felt the call to pursue art. Watercolor made way for oil paint and the brush was traded out for a palette knife.

I consider myself an expressionist in my use of color and an impressionist in style and subject matter. I paint with the color palette of Monet and attain lots of texture with the use of a palette knife.

I get lost in the meditative process of applying paint to canvas. Time flies by during a painting session, and hours later I step back and see what has emerged.

Students and art enthusiasts ask me how I know when a painting is finished. I tell them “When every color next to another color makes me happy, I know that I am done”. When it all comes together like that, it is simply magical.