ARTIST BIO

Michelle Lewis is an acrylic painter and mixed-media sketchbook artist who captures the extraordinary beauty of everyday life. Through the lens of floral and still-life subjects, Michelle’s compositions center on the connection between joy in the present and the comforting familiarity of the past. 

Michelle has returned to her art practice after taking time to raise a family. She collaborates with art supply brands online, and her artwork has been featured in published books. She is also the author and illustrator of an educational book on composition, teaches online workshops, and holds a BFA in Art/Visual Communications. 

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My current work is deeply rooted in memory and family history as I draw inspiration from the floral-patterned wallpaper, embroidery, hand-painted porcelain, and artwork that filled my grandmother’s home. Many of these items were created by my mother, aunts, grandmother, and generations before them. This lineage of makers and the environments they shaped, is central to the emotional core of my practice. 

In my paintings, I distill form into its essential parts by flooding flat planes with bold masses of color—an approach reminiscent of the simplified shapes found in needlework patterns and silkscreened textiles. I pair distinct transitions in contrasting values to build structure, emphasize clarity, and create a direct sense of light. I also manipulate saturation and use sweeping brushstrokes, which emphasize texture and reveal traces of my artistic process. Together, the result is a body of work that feels both contemporary and nostalgic. 

Drawn to the life cycle of flowers and the many emotional associations they carry, my paintings evoke familiar feelings of joy, comfort, and growth found in the simplicity of everyday life. I often pair these floral motifs with keepsakes from the past and other ordinary objects that remind me of home, allowing them to act as anchors for memory while also celebrating the present.