E. Melinda Morrison

E. Melinda Morrison is a story teller. Her stories are of diverse people and places with long histories and uncertain futures, and she tells it all in the language of oils and light and composition. Although her paintings have their foundation in the quotidian of daily events and experiences, she enhances and enlarges those slices of life and paints what she wants to see with a certain looseness and abstraction in shapes. Her colors are carefully paired with grays – never “color for color-sake,” rather color for the sake of the narrative. In her own words, she “enjoys telling the story” and revels in framing a climactic scene: “whether a humorous or an emotional moment, capturing a person in spontaneous expression is the ultimate glory for me in painting.”

As an extroverted artist, Morrison has always had the unfortunate tension of drawing energy from interaction with people, while needing to nourish and express her creative soul in solitude. As a young woman, her B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Tyler took a backseat to the corporate world for many years: advertising exec; graphic designer and art director of her own company; corporate recruiter. Not surprisingly, she was recognized in national competitions for her print design and annual reports. But shortly after her move to Denver in 1994, the satisfied extrovert began to hear from the starving artist; she says she “felt like her soul was drying up”. An oil-painting class at the Art Students’ League of Denver rained water on that desert ground.

Over the next five years, Melinda studied painting at the League under the guidance of Colorado artists Kevin Weckbach and mentor, Kim English. As her passion and skill grew, so did her dream to paint full-time. After getting laid off from her job in 2003, Morrison admitted “if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.” She made the leap and brought years of corporate skills into the new and intricate dance of a full-time professional art career. She hasn’t looked back.

Since that decision, she has shown in shows in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Montana gaining recognition for her figurative paintings, and is collected among collectors all across US.


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