Judy Thompson-Melanson
Judy Thompson-Melanson began painting as an adult in 2020. Her first picture, "Ceaseless Sound" was painted in response to resounding tinnitus and hyperacusis which came on quickly following COVID vaccination. "Ceaseless Sound" was hung as part of the Pacific Art League's 100th Anniversary Exhibition.
When she was a child, one of her school teachers suggested to her mother that she enroll Judy in art classes outside school as the teacher recognized her young talent. A painting Judy made during those classes was exhibited at the Boston Arts Festival.
Judy went on to study theater arts at Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri, and later to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. While working on a Master of Fine Arts degree in New York City, she taught at the college level briefly.
Seemingly antithetical, soon afterward she turned her attention to the study of computer programming and systems design, and it was that which brought her to the San Francisco Bay Area. During her longtime career in Silicon Valley, she began designing and making jewelry which was carried and sold in shops in Carmel-by-the sea, Los Altos, and Menlo Park.
It was not until after retirement that Judy found her way back to painting.
Among the subjects she chooses to explore in her work is an unconventional and aesthetic look at illness and to that end she is engaged in making abstract paintings included in a series called "Illness and Injury".
Often Judy allows herself the unbridled pleasure of letting a painting take her where it will without goal or subject matter. Recently she has chosen to make paintings in honor of the forest and the great and noble Redwoods that surround her home in Woodside, California.
Principally working in acrylic paint, oil paint, and cold wax and oil paint, Judy also enjoys the quirky and complex capabilities offered by mixed-media work.
