Welcome to my online studio. I am Michele Ryan, an unconventional artist, playing with vibrant colors, bold effects, with unique techniques and mixtures in my Southern Arizona studio.

  My mom was an artist. I spent my early childhood in Minnesota coloring under her easels at art fairs. It wasn't until after her death a few years ago that I heard my inner artist calling me. Art has a healing effect on your heart and soul. It didn't take long for me to realize it wasn't the ART I was producing, but the FEELING it was creating that was changing my life. When I pour, the world fades, and I become lost in the process of creating. Worry, stress, anxiety, and fear fade away. There is a sense of beautiful accomplishment as colors and patterns reveal themselves on the canvas.  I haven't quite found a word or definition for the feeling I get when I create art, but this is pretty close: 

"Zen: a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than conscious effort." 

    Having experienced a deep connection with angels through my battle with cancer and again with the loss of my husband to cancer a few years later, I connect with my angels when I create in my studio. I love when people are drawn to certain pieces. They often say things like "I felt this piece call to me" or "I just felt drawn to this one." I smile, knowing that painting was made just for them.