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Melody Cleary
Fine Artist
Beaverton, Oregon - Phone (503) 641-2481

About the artist

Melody ClearyBorn and raised in Portland, Oregon, I was an incessant doodler/drawer as a youngster, so visual arts & crafts held great appeal to me. I watched my father who, with his skillful hands and eyes, drew many designs for granite & marble memorials during his long engraving career in Portland. So, at the kitchen table next to him, I drew. A blue ribbon in 6th grade for a life drawing of a teacher was encouragement and my mother enrolled me in drawing & oil painting classes at a local art center during my high school years which culminated in a Best of Show ribbon at my high school art competition. That early motivation inspired me to continue exploring art. As a working adult in small business accounting and motherhood, I moonlighted by taking classes at community college and local art schools in life drawing, palette knife oil painting, watercolor, acrylic and basic design. After early retirement in 2000, I devoted my time to continued media and color exploration with acrylics, watercolors and collage.

Artist statement

I convey, through my art, my emotional response to color and design in nature and our world. I love traditional landscape or still life as well as abstract painting or collage and the process of allowing a work to just evolve not knowing where it will end up. Some works on paper find new life and contribute a piece to an abstract collage. Acrylic media is currently predominant in my work due to it's incredible flexibility & quick drying properties. From traditional brush & knife painting to creating acrylic stained & textured tissue paper for collage, I find that going back and forth between two creative methods keeps me intrigued, my work fresh and constantly evolving.

Resume below.

Associations/Galleries

  • Daily Painters Abstract Gallery blog
  • Int'l Society of Acrylic Painters - Signature member
  • Watercolor Society of Oregon
  • Beaverton Arts Commission
  • The Village Gallery of Arts, Portland
Public Collections
  • 2008 City of Beaverton, City Hall - 2 works

    Juried Shows/Awards
  • 2010 Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase
  • 2009 Watercolor Society of OR Spring Show
  • 2009 Kingstad Gallery, Beaverton OR "The Way of Peace/The Way of Art" exhibition
  • 2008 Int'l Society of Acrylic Painters Online Juried Exhibition
  • 2008, 2007, 2006 Waterlily Festival Invitational - Hughes Water Gardens
  • 2008 Watercolor Society of Oregon Spring Show
  • 2008 Kingstad Gallery, Beaverton OR "Journeys/Waysides/Passages" exhibition
  • 2007 Watercolor Society of Oregon Fall Show - Achievement Award
  • 2007 Sequim Arts Juried Exhibition, Sequim WA
  • 2007 Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase
  • 2006 Westmoreland Art Nationals Juried Exhibition, Latrobe PA
  • 2006 May - Village Gallery of Arts - First Place
  • 2006 Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase 'People's Choice Award'
  • 2005 Oct - Village Gallery of Arts - First Place

    Other non-juried
  • 2009 Art House Coop, Atlanta GA - Canvas 2 Project