Home Contact Watermedia Acrylics Small Works Prints/Notecards Links Purchase

Melody Cleary
Fine Artist in Oregon

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 and in a high school art competition were encouraging, so I enrolled in drawing & oil painting classes at a local art center when I was a teen. That early motivation inspired me to continue exploring art as an adult. As I worked in small business accounting and enjoyed 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, texture and design in nature. I am usually inspired by my own photos taken at local areas, zooming in on a particular portion of the scene where I find a pleasing composition & design. On the computer, I might convert the photo to black & white to just see values, and blur it (instead of squinting), then let my intuition guide the colors I employ, trying to remain as free as possible with the paint application via fluid negative brush painting or bold palette knife strokes, always conscious of the of lights against darks…I am so drawn to light and shadows. Water patterns and reflections are of particular interest to me lately due to the wonderful abstraction that is created. All the different trees and their patterns interest me, as well. I derive great pleasure from applying and scraping pigment with knives to achieve interesting texture and tones. Although I am predominantly a representational landscape and nature painter, I also enjoy experimenting with collage and acrylic stained papers in abstract works. Thank you for visiting my website!

Resume below

Juried Shows/Awards
  • 2011 Contemporary Fine Arts Int'l - Miniature On-line Show
  • 2011 Lake Oswego Festival Visual Chronicles Exhibit
  • 2011 Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase
  • 2010 Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase
  • 2009-10 Watercolor Society of OR juried shows - 2010 Award of Distinction
  • 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

    Solo Shows
  • 2011 Beard's Framing-Sts of Tanasbourne, Hillsboro OR
  • 2010 Elsinore Framing & Fine Art Gallery, Salem OR
  • 2010-11 Providence St. Vincent Hospital, Portland OR
  • 2008 American Red Cross Life Crossings Gallery, Portland OR

    Other non-juried
  • 2011 Feb - Odgepodge Art Gallery "Loving Red" show - Sherwood OR
  • 2009 Art House Coop, Atlanta GA - Canvas 2 Project