Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melissa Lakey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I recently had my first solo show at the Hey There Projects gallery in Joshua Tree. Having my own art show has been a dream for a long time and it was so exciting to finally have it come to life.

I had about six months to prepare for the show, which was just enough time for me to procrastinate, freeze up, unfreeze, and then make a ton of art nonstop for a few months.

Knowing I had the whole room to fill pushed me to work bigger. I painted two pieces that were almost twice as large as the biggest paintings I had created before. As well as working in mixed media on paper like I had been previously, I experimented with working on canvas and wood panels. Most exciting was creating my first wood cutouts which I designed and my dad cut out for me. There’s something so exciting about being able to hold a shape that was once just a sketch.

I created a huge amount of art, and then had to narrow it down to the 31 pieces that I put in the show. Happily the gallery owners helped me decide what to include.

I was so nervous and excited leading to the opening night. The gallery hung the work the night before so I had no idea how it would look, but when I arrived for the opening, I loved it. All this art had been piled up around my studio for months, but suddenly I was seeing it in a room full of people. Everyone was taking in the art and telling me how they enjoyed the colors and happiness they saw in my art. It was truly one of the best days of my life!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m an artist and illustrated based in Joshua Tree, California. I create artwork that celebrates the landscape and animals of the American Southwest, as well as a nostalgia for travel, road trips, and summer vacations.

I’m especially inspired by the desert where I live, the Mojave. Looking out the window of my studio, I often see animals passing by — quail, jackrabbits, roadrunners, coyotes, and even bobcats. I’m also inspired by imaginary deserts, where you might befriend a wild burro or hear a banjo played by a ghost cowboy.

I love working in mixed media, so I often use a lot of different materials in the same artwork. I enjoy the freedom of working without a plan and the happy accidents that come from experimenting with materials. The atmosphere, mood and time of day in a piece will help me choose what to use — whether it’s a day or night scene, a dreamy moment or something more defined. I usually work in a combination of gouache, ink, oil pastel and colored pencils.

I share my artwork through gallery shows, open studios and online exhibitions. As well as creating fine art, I love making illustrations that bring an unexpected and fun element to stationery, homewares, bedding, rugs and apparel. My past illustration clients include the LA Times, Compendium Live Inspired, and Harper Wilde.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a big part of my life as an artist at the moment. When I first started getting back into making art a few years ago, doing Instagram challenges got me inspired and kept me going with making art every day. This also helped build my audience and connected me with artist and illustrator friends, some of which have turned into IRL friends as well.

Doing the Instagram art challenges got me into the habit of posting daily for a while, and when I was posting that much I was able to experiment with what types of content, photo styling, and captions people responded to, and to find what felt right for me. I know some people worry that the response they get on social media will influence what type of art they make but that hasn’t been a concern for me. I don’t create work that’s specifically for social media, but I do often photograph and style work in a way that I think will perform better. For example, a pile of sketchbooks with some art supplies around them will always catch people’s interest more than a close-up of the sketch itself. At least for my audience!

Finding what feels right and fun for me has been key to using social media in a way that feels sustainable. When reels came along, I tried creating more complicated reels which I didn’t enjoy making before settling on what I do now, which is a sketchbook tour, timelapse or other simple, single shot reel that doesn’t take long to shoot and doesn’t require editing.

One thing I have to remember is to keep things balanced, and not overdo social media. Rather than try to make each day perfectly balanced, I find it helpful to balance things out over the week or month. If I have a new product, project, or workshop I want to let people know about, or some new work I’m excited to share, I’ll be on social media quite a bit. Then I might take a few days or even a week off and have a little break to return to the real world.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

For me, making art is about happiness. I choose colors I love, and subjects that make me smile: floating cowboys, three-legged pink coyotes, and roadrunners with grins on their faces. One of the best compliments I frequently get is that my art makes people happy when they look at it.

I have been drawing and painting since I was a kid and when I was a teenager I thought I’d pursue art as a career. But in my early 20s when I started focusing on trying to make art I thought people would want to buy, I lost a lot of my enthusiasm for art and eventually gave it up.

After about a decade off, I found my way back to art by participating in The 100 Day Project on Instagram in 2018. It’s a challenge that runs every year, where you choose your own project and work on it every day for 100 days in a row. I decided to do a 100-day plein air watercolor painting project and loved it. I did the 100-day project again in 2019 (limited color palettes) and 2020 (travel illustration) but each time after the project ended I didn’t do much art the rest of the year.

But after my 100-day project in 2021 (night illustration), something clicked. I continued making art almost daily and haven’t stopped. It became something I looked forward to when I woke up each morning. I discovered what colors I am drawn to, the things I enjoy drawing, and my style began to shift from a more realistic style into the fun, loose way that I work now. My love of art came back in a way that got lost in my 20s.

Now I’m finding my way of being a professional artist while keeping my love of art. There’s a trick to keeping that looseness, exploration and delight in creating artwork while also making work under a deadline for an upcoming show or client project, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.melissalakey.com/
• Instagram: @melissa.lakey
• Other: Behance: https://www.behance.net/melissalakey

Image Credits
All images are by me no need to photo credit.