Today I am thrilled to share our FIRST EVER interview for the "Women Entrepreneurs" feature that will highlight a different female entrepreneur each week. Get ready to be inspired and gain advice on the process of dreaming to have a small business to actually owning a small business. This week, I am interviewing Melissa Lyons. Now, if you haven't heard of her (which I'm sure you have, Melissa Lyons is the incredible artist behind the beautiful ocean and sail boat paintings that are being raved about all over instagram! Let's begin!
Me: When did you begin painting?
Melissa:
When did I begin painting? The short answer is Feb 12,2012. I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it, I was just being obedient to God.
Originally I felt God telling me to take kids into my home and watch them. And I did that. I created a huge playroom, threw an ad up on sitter city and had some kids here and there. But I started to feel miserable. I hated my life and everyday was leading me down the path to depression. I remember a coworker of my husbands calling me and telling me that she might want to transition into home care instead of daycare. I thought that this was what God wanted me to do so I told my husband I would say yes, very hesitantly . I had no peace about it. My soul was in distress. Its not that I don't like kids, I love them...I am just not a babysitter or teacher. I struggle in that part of my relationship even with my own kids. I am very much a nurturer caretaker type. I love to nurse, give baths, care for them when they are sick or hurt, stay up all night rocking them, pack lunches and spiritually lead...just not abc's and 123's per say. I had started to dabble in painting because that is also what I felt God was asking me to do when I saw the mural. I was loving it so much it was a feeling I had never felt before. I felt alive. When I describe it to people the only way I can put it into words is...my soul was awakened. I wanted to keep doing it so bad but I had no idea how i would make money from it. I had never taken an art class and I never went to college. So I remember one day at church our pastor was talking about taking up our cross and following Jesus. God was speaking to me about following His will and being willing to be obedient in what he was asking. I remember going up to the altar that day and laying it all out. I cried and prayed and told God I was in. Whatever he wanted me to do, I was willing to do it. If he wanted me to lay down the art to watch kids, I would do it. I came to a point where I felt like I would rather be under his care, in his will, than doing something I loved to do without him. I trusted him that if watching kids in my home was what I was supposed to do, I would do it with my whole heart and trust him to change my heart. From that day on, I never ever got another phone call or email to watch a child and I started painting...
Me: Did you always knows you were an artist? If not, when did you realize it?
Melissa:
I never wanted to be anything when I was a kid. I was always artistic and theatrical, I did dance and musical theatre and choir. But I have a horrible case of panic and stage fright and was always turning down lead roles because I just couldn't face my fears. I remember in 4th grade my art teacher Mrs. Pulsifer had us doing potato stamps. I can to this day remember the long roll of brown paper down the long, cold table where we all sat. We used green paint to stamp Christmas trees. I remember very vividly her walking by and smiling at me....she looked down and said, "your going to be an artist one day."
Me: What is the best part about creating your art?
Melissa:
The very best part of creating art is just that. Creating. I feel like God is the ultimate artist and everything in life is art. His art. So I feel like the dreams and colors and emotions that are all in my heart are from Him and I love seeing it all come to life.
Me: Do you have any advice for others who want to pursue their own art?
Melissa:
START. Just start. I had no idea what I was doing. I did not know what supplies to use or where to get them. I had no idea what to paint. But I trusted God that if he wanted me to do this, in His time, he would reveal it all to me. I went about a few months until I sold anything. And it was a very slow start in my etsy shop as well. I took me months before I sold anything there. And if you look back in my shop you will notice that nothing I painted back then resembles anything I paint now. I did a lot of sports art and kids art. My goal was to just keep painting until I figured out what my niche was. There were some months that I felt very discouraged and my shop almost closed down many nights. But my husband encouraged me to keep going. He is sort of the slow and steady one and I am the panicked emotional one. The amazing thing still to this day is that I still have pieces of art that make me cringe. I look at it and say oh my gosh nobody is going to buy this EVER. But then it sells. God has used this last 2 years in my journey to teach me that I truly am my own worst enemy. I am so quick to be hard on myself and get discouraged. But everyone must start somewhere. EVERYONE. I am sure writers cringe at some of their first writings, just as I do in my early blog posts. But all of it is part of the journey. If God is leading you to start something and you have no idea how its going to work or what to do, this is a good thing. Because its only because of his supernatural leading and hand over my life that I am able to do any of this. He has provided every single month for supplies and my needs. And he has given me opportunities that I never could have arranged myself. Such as early on, I started painting flags. I am a military wife so I am very nostalgic about our flag. But then I started doing the Texas flag and one day out of the blue I got an email from Sundance Film Festival. They wanted to use my flag in a photoshoot for their catalog. This was only about 6 months or so into painting! I learned early on that if I would just keep being obedient to what God was wanting to do and I listened for His voice first everyday, he would take care of it all.
Me: What mediums do you use?
Melissa:
I have a very fast painting style. I don't like to come back to a painting. Its probably because I paint so many different subjects that when I am on something, Im really "on it" and tomorrow, I wont be...so I use acrylic paint. I also use acrylic paint because I like to use graphite pencils and charcoal and oil pastels and scratch the surface with palette knives and fast drying acrylic paint allows me to do that. I also use ALOT of texture gels and pastes, different amounts for different paintings. My beachy abstract paintings use a lot. I use them to basically mimic the feel of sand and shells and things you would find on the beach. My more decorative paintings, I use just a thin layer of molding paste as a ground for me to paint on. I NEVER EVER paint right on a canvas. There is always a layer of something.
Wow! Thank you so much Melissa for this interview! I'm sure you all are feeling so inspired right now! I know I am! If you would like to see more of Melissa's art or purchase some of your very own visit the links below:
Melissa's Website: www.melissalyonsart.com
Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/melissalyonsart
Instagram: @melissalyonsart
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