Melissa Sturgeon

1975

Melissa Jane Sturgeon was born in North London in 1975. She studied at North Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and Falmouth School of Art, graduating in Illustration in 1996. Melissa worked as a freelance Illustrator for a time but soon realised her creativity was being stifled and took the decision to concentrate on developing her own work.
Much of the inspiration for Melissa's work is the result of her travels around Europe, and time spent in Paris would prove to be a catalyst for her development as an artist, and lead her to create a series of carefully observed paintings exploring her interactions with the built environment.
Melissa's aim is to translate the thoughts and memories that are experienced within a given environment and it is in these transient moments that she explores and seeks to capture in her paintings. Talking about what inspires her work, Melissa says "Mostly what I find I do is to sit and just spend time watching the world around me, absorbing everything, using all the senses. You cannot bottle the atmosphere; it isn't something that is tangible, you can only convey a feel for a place from your memories, from your own experience and try your best to translate that in your work. "
Melissa exhibits regularly with galleries across the U.K, and has recently had a series of paintings published as art prints by The Art Group.