Melanie Miller Stokes is an artist, a teacher, a wife, a mother, a mother-in- law, a grandmother and a friend. Retired from 26 years of teaching in Georgia public schools, twenty of those as a K-8 Art Teacher, she and her husband moved to Waco, TX at the end of 2018 to be near grandsons (and the grandsons’ parents!).
“Love for Art began in childhood, but it was not until my sons were grown that I got serious about oil painting. Painting ‘en plein air’ has been my focus in the last ten years,” says Stokes. “I am still learning.”
She is included in the juried memberships of Outdoor Painters Society, Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, and Professional Artists of Central Texas.
“Painting is something I not only enjoy doing, but something I need to do,” states Stokes. “It is a language of color and tone that brings richness to my soul. It becomes a spiritual act of worship while I marvel at the beauty of Creation. I want people to feel peace when they look at my paintings — peace, beauty, contentment, a feeling that all is well in their soul. I paint out of my own faith in a God who creates beauty, a God who loves, a God who provides. When a viewer tells me my art speaks to them, I am fulfilled. ”
