About Melanie Gudmundsen
I am an artist living in Gilbert, Arizona. I use various mediums in my paintings, but my main love is oil paint. My favorite subjects are landscapes, florals, portraits and figures. My love of art started as a child. One of my favorite hobbies was tearing out portraits from magazines and drawing them. Fast forward to adulthood…I got married and my husband Dave and I decided that we wanted to have children. Things didn’t really go according to plan. We ended up struggling with infertility for 7 years. During this time, my life felt very stalled and stuck and many of our circumstances were beyond our control. I needed something to look forward to and remembered the love I had had of drawing. I had always been curious about painting as well, so I decided to start taking art classes. I was in love! Art helped me feel hope, peace and growth while we were going through our challenges. It brought beauty into my life. When I finally had our first child (and then another and another!), I put a lot of my art aside to to focus on them. When they were all in school full time, I felt a big pull to get back to my art. I resumed taking art classes and fell in love all over again. I have been in several exhibitions and am now selling my art professionally.
When I am in my studio, I still get those feelings of peace, hope, and growth that first got me hooked on art. My greatest desire is that I can help bring that same peace and beauty to my collectors and those that view my art. I find a lot of inspiration in the inherent beauty of nature, and in the authentic beauty in each person.
When I’m not in the studio, I like to spend time with my family, go to lunch with my friends, read (I especially love fiction books), and travel. My favorite vacations are usually somewhere with interesting architecture and museums, or anywhere with a beach.