Twelve years ago Melissa Chandon woke up one day with a gut feeling that she had to start painting again after a 20-year hiatus. Today, an 8-by-16-foot mural of hers graces the entryway of the new Woodland Medical Building, representing "the feeling of the valley."

"I'm very honored to have been chosen for the project," said Chandon, a Davis resident. "I hope it brings peace and happiness for all of the doctors, nurses, staff and patients on a daily basis."

The mural prominently features a farm house and barn located on Highway 16 just outside Esparto, a recurring icon in many of Chandon's paintings.

"Yolo County is a very interesting place," she said. "With the coastal mountain range to the west and the vast expanse of the sky,

woven in with the ever-changing texture of the crops, I am inspired with every bike ride and drive in the car."

Born in Biloxi, Miss., Chandon is the eldest of five. She grew up throughout the Southwest, Northern California and Minnesota traveling from project to project with her engineer father, mother and siblings.

But Chandon may be considered an honorary fifth generation Yolo County resident. Her great-great grandfather built one of the first businesses in Esparto, and her grandmother moved to the area at the age of 19 to teach in a one-room school house on County Road 25 after going to college.

Chandon's mother and father, who both graduated from Esparto High School, fell in love at the ages of 15 and 16, and remained married

until her father's death 11 years ago. Chandon's grandparents on both sides had farms, on County Road 25 and the other on the north side of Highway 16. Both farms remain in the family.

"I feel very fortunate to have a strong feeling about this place and I feel rooted here," said Chandon. "Having been able to come visit my grandparents during holidays and summer vacations, I was able to enjoy the local environment: Trips into town to go to the Nugget Market, back when it was much smaller; trips

to the doughnut shop with my grandfather; into Esparto to Marvin's Market, which is no longer there.

"In my paintings I try to accomplish and communicate this string sense of place, a place that speaks of a less hectic life."

Chandon considers herself an abstract realist painter, or "Americana meets Pop Art."

Born as a child of the '50s, road trips were a passion of her parents who saw the American landscape as a means of educating their five children. After being exposed to "the humanity of highways, small towns, truck stops, and KOA Kampgrounds" across America, Chandon still finds roadside culture fascinating.

"I feel it is important to document this era of U.S. history before it disappears," stated Chandon. "It is very important to remember where we came from in order to make wise decisions about our future. I feel a sense of community is very important and I want to do all I can to bring issues about our environment, our land preservation, and wise community planning to the foreground. How can we know where we're going if we do not remember where we came from?"

During her 20-year sabbatical from 1975 to 1995, Chandon took the time to raise her family, garden and farm organically.

At the time, organic produce was an unknown. Chandon worked for a group of organic farmers in Yolo County as a national sales representative when farmers' markets were just beginning to rear their heads. She was no stranger to the idea of being self-sustaining, and maintained her own family gardens all year long, selling some of the produce through the farmers' owned co-op, YoCal Produce.

"For me, (organic farming and painting) speak the same language," said the artist. "My vision is about being smart, making wise choices, having an appreciation for our environment and doing all we can to make a difference. The world is a small place in many ways, we are just one big community."

When Chandon decided to take up painting again, the 20-year gap didn't deter her much. It was more of an extension of her other creative projects, like gardening or selling organic produce. In fact, taking the time off to raise her children, learn about the world and gather a variety of experiences dramatically helped her painting career.

Perhaps it was her life experiences which caught the eye of iconic painter Wayne Thiebaud, who took Chandon under his wing as one of his few apprentices.

Whatever the reason, Thiebaud became Chandon's mentor after she took a few of his classes at UC Davis. Their work share similarities in the sense that both take the ordinary to the canvas to create something extraordinary.

"(Thiebaud) has been a very strong influence," Chandon said of her teacher. "(He) chose to paint cupcakes and pieces of pie, where I paint VW busses, burger stands, boats and trailers. I, too, take the common thing that one would exclude from their vision and make it a beautiful jewel as well."

Thiebaud is not the only 20th century painter Chandon looked to for inspiration. According to the artist, she was drawn to the directness of David Hockney's work of the 70's, the romance of Edward Hopper, the intriguing abstraction of Richard Deibenkorn, as well as Thiebaud's delight with color and surface.

Ultimately, Thiebaud offered Chandon a challenge: "He told me that making it as an artist is very hard, and most people give up after five years," she said. "Well, I made a decision. I was not going to give up."

Twelve years later, with many exhibitions under her belt, Chandon is dedicating her latest mural to her parents, Howard and Anne Chandon, which will remain just down the road from the family farms on Highway 16.

The new Woodland Clinic facility is now open at the corner of West Gibson and Cottonwood Street. The 58,000-square-foot complex was designed to replace a number of medical offices scattered throughout the hospital's campus.