Melissa Gay (she/her)
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melissagayyy.bsky.social
Melissa Gay (she/her)
@melissagayyy.bsky.social
900 followers 660 following 59 posts
I am a neurodiverse LGBTQ+ artist passionate about sci-fi, fantasy, and wildlife art. Myths and legends of nature inspire me, as does science as it expands our view of the cosmos. I believe artwork = human work.
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melissagayyy.bsky.social
Melissa Gay (she/her) @melissagayyy.bsky.social · Nov 26
I'm Melissa Gay, and clearly I LOVE to paint cosmic birds and women holding sticks! 🤣
A photo of me, Melissa Gay, surrounded by my paintings, with my signature and calligraphy chop at the top. I only realized while putting this promo image together how MANY of my artworks feature a brunette woman holding a stick. It's like a prophecy has embedded itself into my subconscious mind, "Look ye for the woman holding a stick!" I'm joking, of course. Kinda. Also I love to paint cosmic birds.
melissagayyy.bsky.social
This right here. Humans react how they train to react, so train yourself on this phrase.

NO KINGS
socialistdogmom.bsky.social molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · Jun 13
i want you to practice saying it. “i am invoking my right to remain silent and will not answer questions without an attorney present.” say it out loud. it sounds so simple but when the moment comes, you forget. you’ll be stressed, scared, confused, & want to explain yourself. don’t. it won’t help.
June 14, 2025 at 6:35 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
My Two of Swords painting in the show!!!
wintersrune.com Rune Winters - Formerly Laura Garabedian @wintersrune.com · Jun 10
Another wall of the show! featuring Christy Lynne Seving, @dorywhynot.bsky.social @windfalcon.bsky.social Sharlene Loomis @melissagayyy.bsky.social and Penney Bidwell
Opening is Sat June 14th from 5-8:30
View of a gallery wall featuring art by Christy Lynne Seving of a hanging man in an abstract swirling background my art of a 2 of pentacles fox anthro over stained glass @dorywhynot.bsky.social watercolor piece of a spine and hips on fire @windfalcon.bsky.social of two bald eagles falling from a next that is falling from it's weight breaking the tree Sharlene Loomis The Hermit ram headed anthro looking into a black sky @melissagayyy.bsky.social 2 of swords of a woman blindfolded with crossed swords and Penney Bidwell Temperance sculpture of a winged woman in a frame
June 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
WOW!!! Due to insomnia, I lucked into an astronomical event! Venus bigger than I've EVER seen it in the East, about 6 degrees above the horizon, while the thinnest sliver of a crescent moon rises to the left! BREATHTAKING! <3 <3 <3
May 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
New painting! Two of Swords for "ARCANUM: Painting the Fates" at Valkarie Gallery (@valkariegallery on social media) in Colorado. What do you do when you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea? I think none of us know for sure until we're there ourselves. Alt text for the full story.
A dark-haired woman stands blindfolded, in front of the sea, holding two crossed swords under a crescent moon. This is a painting for all the people displaced or endangered by the Trump administration’s policies on immigration, reproductive rights and health, Trans personhood, Indigenous peoples, and all the families affected. My Two of Swords card is a symbol for all who have been forced to make difficult choices within a landscape of ever-shifting policies, and having to make judgement calls while blinded by a lack of information. What do you do when you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea? I think none of us know for sure until we're there ourselves. The figure in the painting wears a friendship bracelet crafted by Cherokee Copper artist Greg Stice, which I gave to my best friend in celebration of her achieving her level 3 Cherokee language certificate. Although Native, she is in danger of being swept up in an ICE raid and deported because she cannot pass for white. It was her decision to leave her home and relocate to a safer state that inspired me to paint this.
May 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
My latest piece, "Rising Storm", 18" x 24", acrylic on paper mounted to hardboard. It is about transformation and rage, rage against that which wants to suppress who and what we are.
A witchy-looking woman, her face half-shrouded in shadow, floats in the air in the eye of a storm. Her dress is the whirlwind, her scarf makes lightning. Around her, clouds transform into ravens.
April 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Melissa Gay (she/her)
sacredsapling.bsky.social
The art industry is extra hard for traditional artists so:

🎉 Let’s do a traditional art #PortfolioDay share! 🎉

Link to your portfolio day post below and I’ll share a bunch today!

Any traditional media is welcome (2D or 3D).

👉 Not a traditional artist? Please boost and help us out ✨
A photo of a WIP watercolor sketchbook page showing a cute Black man with long dreadlocks smiling in a colorful high fashion shirt. A color palette sheet is next to the sketchbook. It reads ‘Traditional Artist Portfolio Day Share’ over top of the photo.
April 8, 2025 at 7:34 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
My painting "Dryad Wakes From a Dream" got selected to be in the vol. 13 IBA annual!!! I am thrilled, because I love her, obviously, but also I literally never know which of my pieces is going to resonate with an art jury, LOL. Acrylic on Strathmore 500, 12x18".
A luminous face, painted in yellows, turquoises, and touches of red, emerges from beneath the mossy blanket of a forest floor. She is crowned in branches or upturned tree roots, and gazing dreamily up at the world. A leaf dangles from a cobweb near where her ear would be, as if an ornament or jewelry. Ferns curl next to her face, and mushrooms sprout near her shoulder. The forest behind her is orange-hued, to suggest she could be waking either to a sunlit world, or to the foreshadowing of a world on fire.
February 15, 2025 at 9:53 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
@vaklam.bsky.social It's that scene from our Vampire game!
sachinteng.bsky.social 晴晴 @sachinteng.bsky.social · Feb 12
I had the wild opportunity to work on a MTG card a few years ago and it came out a few months ago. My take on the classic card Relentless Rats. It's borderless and holographic. Card number 0754. Rarity R
A Magic The Gathering card called Relentless Rats. Artwork on the card depicts countless rats that fill the entire card, with three larger rats leading them. All the rats swarm a single person being devoured, skin torn from their face, with only their eyes and nose visible through the myriad of rats. Text reads: Creature - Rat. Relentless Rats gets +1/+1 for each other creature on the battlefield named Relentless Rats. A deck can have any number of cards named Relentless Rats.
February 13, 2025 at 12:20 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
I was at CONpossible in Duluth, GA, this past weekend, and it was SO FUN!! Mad props to the organizers. They had a ton of programming, a tea room, lots of vendors and authors, and WONDERFUL fans! An absolute treat to be around! The weekend just flew by, and I hope I get to go again next year! ❤️
Me, Melissa Gay, in front of some of my art My vendor booth display for CONpossible! Paintings to the back, prints to the sides, and merch to the front, with my Trans Ally flag on proud display. Another view of my vendor space, this time showing the flip bin bearing the 13x19" prints, all the way to the right. My table runner has honey bees on it, because that's what my name means. :)
February 13, 2025 at 12:15 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Here are a bunch of tiny space paintings! :) Well, kinda small anyway. Acrylic on canvas is my jam! <3 It unblocks my stream of consciousness and lets my creativity flow.
Left: "River of Stars", 8 x 10 inches. Right Top: "Green Nebula", 4 x 4 inches. Right Bottom: "Upper Atmospheric Storm", 4 x 4 inches, won Third Prize Professional Sci-Fi at the Chattacon Art Show! :) All are acrylic on canvas, painted by me, Melissa Gay.
January 23, 2025 at 11:14 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Finishing setup at the Chattacon 50 Art Show! Chattacon was my first-ever con back in the day and is very special to me. Yay for 50 years!!!
My decorated booth at the Chattacon Art Show, plus some stray materials for my Fairytale panel at 6pm Friday and 1pm Sunday! Closer view of my banner and booth display, original paintings, canvas prints, paper prints, and art books.
January 18, 2025 at 3:09 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Happy Holidays to everyone!!!!
December 26, 2024 at 2:42 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Thanks for the artshare, @artbyemilyhare.bsky.social ! 💚

I'd like to share this piece today, "Ritual Space", acrylic over watercolor on Strathmore 500 illustration board, 12" x 18". @amandamakepeace.bsky.social is my awesome model!
A woman with long black hair dressed in earth tones sits before a moss-covered rock with a black feather on it, like an offering left on an altar. Behind her are the gnarled roots of a long-ago upturned tree stump. In her right hand she holds a sapling staff. Her left wrist and hand is wrapped in a leather cord, and she holds a crow or raven skull. There is a stark contrast between the warmth of her skin and the coolness of the hazy blue-green environment. the altarstone sits in a pool of water swirling with autumn leaves.
November 28, 2024 at 8:18 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
I made the most perfect cranberry jam last night in about 20 minutes (minus the time spent dicing the cranberries). The answer to all my jam-making woes was apparently this all along, "Use an easier recipe." 🤣
November 28, 2024 at 7:32 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
I'm Melissa Gay, and clearly I LOVE to paint cosmic birds and women holding sticks! 🤣
A photo of me, Melissa Gay, surrounded by my paintings, with my signature and calligraphy chop at the top. I only realized while putting this promo image together how MANY of my artworks feature a brunette woman holding a stick. It's like a prophecy has embedded itself into my subconscious mind, "Look ye for the woman holding a stick!" I'm joking, of course. Kinda. Also I love to paint cosmic birds.
November 26, 2024 at 7:34 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Just FYI, I am blocking anyone who has AI art on their profile.
November 24, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Melissa Gay (she/her)
78tarot.bsky.social
Our fantastic Nautical: the New Wave and Oracle of the Healing Waters artists 😍
go.bsky.app/V9FCEc
November 20, 2024 at 8:47 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
LOL I could at least repost your post of my Hero Forge character! :D THOSE ROSES ARE CABBAGES!!!!
vaklam.bsky.social Brian_Cooksey.gif @vaklam.bsky.social · Nov 2
Here are some pictures of Gloriana, Awakened Spider Bard.

Hero Forge design by @melissagayyy.bsky.social
November 14, 2024 at 12:24 AM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Officially off Twitter as of this minute! Yay!
October 24, 2024 at 8:46 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Me, preparing for every convention ever!
August 15, 2024 at 11:59 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
Explains my near-constant insomnia.
August 15, 2024 at 11:41 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
It always takes me a long time to process my emotions after certain art shows, and the comments I get. This year I have decided to stop apologizing for what I love, forever!!!!
December 9, 2023 at 7:16 PM
melissagayyy.bsky.social
In 1851, Melville describes perfectly the emotional aftermath of every convention I've ever gone to!
November 28, 2023 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Melissa Gay (she/her)
changelingart.bsky.social
Our Deck the Halls auction is now open in the Faery Ring Group! ✨

Support artists this holiday season. #art #supportartists #artshop

www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
Painting of a badger, fox and an otter carrying a holiday tree. Art by Elisabeth Alba.
November 27, 2023 at 5:42 PM