As a young woman, Melinda's 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; and later corporate and executive recruiter.  Not surprisingly, in advertising, she was recognized in national competitions for her print design and annual reports.  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.

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Over the next five years, Melinda studied painting at the League under the guidance of master painters like, Quang Ho, Kim English, Kevin Weckbach, and Ron Hicks.  As her passion and skill grew, so did her dream to paint full-time.  She made the leap in 2003 and brought years of corporate skills into the new and intricate dance of a full-time professional art career. 

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As a sought out teacher, she teaches and offers professional studies courses as well as offering workshop instruction from other nationally known artists.  Moving to Fort Worth, Texas in 2015, Melinda continued to paint and teach. It was in Fort Worth that Melinda met internationally award-winning Julio Reyes and Candice Bohannon who changed her understanding of painting. They introduced her to egg tempera. Since that time she has focused her energies towards mastering egg tempera and now works in both oils, egg tempera and gouache.