Melinda Lomax Cootsona is a native of Northern California. Born and raised near Stanford University, she has been greatly influenced by the Bay Area artistic tradition. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts, in Oakland, CA in 1981. Melinda has been inspired by the Society of Six and the Bay Area Figurative artists; many of whom studied at, or taught at, her alma mater, CCA.
Having painted for over 25 years, Melinda is currently focusing on abstract figurative work. The unifying element in her paintings is a strong sense of color and composition. Pulling from a “California palette,” the artist’s work is vibrant and saturated with a keen sense of light.
Melinda has been included in exhibitions at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, The San Luis Obispo Plein Air Painting Competition and the Triton Museum where she won an Award of Merit. Her paintings have been exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions throughout the West Coast, and recently at the Coos Bay Museum of Art in Oregon
