Melissa Scott-Miller
- Faculty
Biography
Melissa Scott studied at The Slade School of Art from 1977–81, elected member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1999 and member of the New English Art Club and the Royal Society of British Artists. Awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Scholarship, the Rodney Byrne Scholarship, and the Prize for a Figurative Painting at the Slade. In 2008 she was awarded the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize and in 2024 the Grand Prize at the Royal Society of British Artists. She has shown in many solo and group shows, many times in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and two solo shows at Chris Beetles Gallery, who now exclusively represent Melissa.
On drawing
Drawing is very important to me, I draw everything around me and things from my head. It is my preferred way of communicating, if I want to describe something I like to do a little drawing for someone. Also, I always draw first on the canvas when I do a painting. I like to spend hours drawing something out and making sure I have the perspective and proportions right before I start to work in paint. I like to concentrate very hard and stretch myself to my absolute limits, trying very hard to be really true to what I am looking at or the vision in my head, but then after concentrating for a while I get carried away in a frenzy of mark-making and feel really free, it doesn’t have to be absolutely accurate then.
