About Melissa

Melissa Lyons ( Kratochvil) b 1982 
Chicago , Illinois 

Melissa Lyons is a studio artist who paints and sells her art primarily from her studio/gallery in South Carolina. She is originally from Chicago and has lived all over the United States which has heavily influenced her art. 

She first started painting in 2012 but has always had a crayon and a coloring book nearby and an aversion to 9-5 jobs. In 2012, she started painting so she could stay home with her 2 daughters and everything else is history!

Always surrounded by Norwegian art and food as a child, Melissa credits her grandmother as one of her greatest muses. Her art leans modern / abstract with traditional subjects . She is drawn to minimalism, patterns, strong colors, textures and lots of negative space. She achieves this with lots of different texture mediums, inks, graphite, and acrylic paint. 

Melissa's greatest influence has always been the coast and the colors and textures of shells, sand ,oysters and has always painted things with a little " age" to it . Recently , her work has become more sculptural and loves organic materials . 

She has had the honor and pleasure to work with many designers, magazines, stores and brands and corporate spaces over the years but credits her personal relationship with her clients as the greatest part. She enjoys working in her studio in Beaufort , Sc and providing a space for her collectors to visit and stay a while. 

Along with the achievement of selling over 3,000 original paintings over the years she also enjoys hosting her creative weekends and feels very inspired and called to help women start their own businesses. She has had the pleasure of hosting over 300 women to her retreat weekends and gives all the glory to God for all of her joy, fun and success in art.