A retired attorney and disabled granny, Northwest Arkansas native Melissa Milton took up art as a serious endeavor in 2017. This was during the 2nd year of a 5 year period of being homebound with medical issues. Her inherited medical condition of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome with Dysautonomia left her unable to stand for more than 5 minutes or sit up more than 15 minutes. Blood pressure crashes caused her to pass out daily for 30-90 minutes. Driving or walking farther than she could get in 5 minutes’ time were out of the question. She was able to leave the house about once every 3 weeks. Although her body could do little more than lie around, her mind still worked just fine. She took up art to fight what was mind numbing boredom, creating digital art on a tablet while lying down.

After about a year, to her surprise people began asking to buy her art. This nice development caused her to need to learn how to build an art website and how to create electronic payments.Since she had nothing but time on her hands while being forced to lie down all day, she learned those skills.

In 2020 an experimental oxygen unit was found to enable her to sit up for up to 4 hours a day (a vast improvement over just 15 minutes). And she could also stand for up to 20 minutes instead of just 5 minutes. These increased physical abilities opened up her art practice to sculpture and to painting with liquid paints. The digital art became a preliminary sketching tool instead of the end result. She still sketches pictures of her sculptures and “regular” paintings with a stylus on a tablet before beginning them in real life. The digital layering techniques have translated themselves into wet paint glaze layering techniques.

She sometimes uses her digital tablet as a tool mid way during a piece’s creation, importing a photo of the real life work in progress into her tablet. Then she’ll out new colors or shapes on it digitally. It’s a fun way to experiment with ideas without altering the piece in real life. She’s found this “experimentation without consequences” encourages bolder ideas on her part.

To this day, she uses the oxygen units 24/7. They prevent her from passing out during the blood pressure drops caused by Dysautonomia. (As Melissa puts it, “If my circulatory system were a car, my wacky nervous system is its drunk driver.”) One large suitcase sized oxygen unit is part of her 500 square foot art studio, which has been designed around the sofa she sits on or lies down on while creating artwork. And yes, the sofa has had a lot of paint spilled on it. The oxygen tubes get occasional painty fingerprints on them as well. :-)

The art studio was converted from a physical therapy space that was used for 8 years. It is graced with an overhead sunroom glass roof: Since Melissa remains limited in leaving the house (possible about 3 times a week), the glass roof gives Melissa a way to always see the sky. It’s also wonderful natural light for painting.

Over the years her artwork has grown into an integral part of Melissa’s daily life. She creates art from her art studio sofa for a total of 2-4 hours on most days. Art has also become an enjoyable part time business gig. She sells art through local Northwest Arkansas Galleries, gift shops, exhibits, museums, various art shows, and online through her art website.

Melissa would be creating the art whether or not it sold. But she loves that the art sales fund the creation of even more art, plus are of course quite helpful to her for day to day living.

Melissa has found that participating in the Galleries and gift shops has led to many wonderful friendships, as well as the opportunity to frequently enjoy other artists’ artwork which she’d have otherwise have never gotten to experience. Other than the pleasure of creating new art itself, the friendships and exposure to others’ artwork have been the very best gift of art becoming a central focus of her life.

Melissa lives in her hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas with her husband & pets. She enjoys both lifelong and newer Northwest Arkansas friends, as well as her large extended family in the area which includes wonderful adult children, adored grandchildren, and many loving nieces and nephews.