• University of Texas, Austin, TX  B.S. Speech Communication
• Laguna Gloria School of Art, Austin, TX
• Fechin Institute of Art, Taos, NM
• Mission Renaissance Art School, Austin, TX

Exhibits/Awards:

• Jurors’ Recognition Award – Sierra Providence Health Network/El Paso Art Association International Museum of Art
• International Museum of Art, El Paso, TX – Juried Master Piece Exhibit
• Austin Galleries, Austin, TX – Featured Artist
• David Dike Fine Art, Dallas, TX – Collective Exhibit
• Oil Painter of America National Juried Exhibit @ Concetta D. Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
• Oil Painters of America Regional Juried Exhibit @ Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio, TX
• David Dike Fine Art, Dallas, TX – Three Person Exhibit

Melinda Waring is a painter of Contemporary Realism. From her studio she paints still life oils taking advantage of the cool north light. With the belief that learning never ends, that learning is synonymous with life, she thrives on new discoveries. Waring says that with every new painting, every nuance in the manipulation of paint is a new lesson. “There is an inner thrill with learning, which keeps life fun and interesting. Painting takes me to another world. It gives me an inner peace and joy. Years ago, while working at the Gallery at Shoal Creek in Austin, TX with the much admired and respected Ann Hagood, and subsequently continuing with the new owner and excellent stewardship of Judith Taylor, I came to know many artists and their highly skilled fine art. They were all an inspiration to me.”

Although her college degree is in speech communication, she never gave up painting. As a young child she always had a hobby of crafting jewelry, pottery, and painting. Growing up in a farm and ranch community in west Texas, she remembers many mornings rising at four in the morning to help on their family farm, drenching sheep, watching the shearing or the cotton pickers, riding horses, fishing on the Colorado River that ran through their farm or helping in the garden. But her mother made sure their home was filled with the arts. “Music of every kind filled our home: Gershwin, Beethoven, Classical, Show tunes, Ray Charles, Elvis, The Beatles and everything in between. I had a wonderful uncle who led an interesting life submerged in arts and crafts. I could hardly wait to go to his studio and watch him work, making crafts, pottery or painting or developing photographs from his many travels. He played the piano beautifully and always inspired me with his talents. I was given dance lessons, speech lessons, acting lessons, all of which gave me a fun life deeply involved in Interscholastic League speaking events and acting in high school and college theatre productions. Somewhere in between the theatre work, being an exchange student in Mexico and absorbing their colorful environment to living a year in New York City and discovering the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, my interest in drawing and painting continued to grow.”

At this point Melinda Waring was mostly self taught in oil painting, but eventually took formal classes and workshops from some of the finest artists. David A. Leffel, a former teacher at the Arts Students League, New York was one of her favorite mentors and teachers. In 1994, Waring was accepted into a juried exhibit in Austin, her first public exhibit and sold half a dozen paintings. In Dallas, David Dike Fine Art held a collective show at which Waring’s paintings sold out. Her sales and galleries expanded. While exhibiting two paintings at the International Museum of Art, El Paso, Waring received a Jurors’ recognition award from two internationally known jurors, Lynn Gertenbach and Frank Webb. Waring’s paintings include numerous commissioned pieces held in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.