Melissa was born in Bermuda and lived there until seven years old. Whilst working in London as an 18 year old, Melissa attended St Martins School of Art part-time and attended part-time at Edinburgh College of Art whilst studying for her honours degree at Edinburgh University.

Melissa loves light, water and life as matter. Seas, in all moods, skies, landscapes, light and the human body including portraiture provide subject matter to explore different emotions, energies, atmospheres and elements. Melissa’s approach is fairly loose and her method explorative, though a strong drawing background underlies it. In the spirit of exploration, experiments are delighted in, for example, recently using oil paint on plaster.

Some of Melissa's sources of inspiration are the works of Turner, Rembrandt, Seago, Singer-Sergeant, the Scottish Colourists, Rothko, Janette Kerr, David Cobley, Ian McKeever, Gerhard Richter and artists from other mediums, Olafur Eliasson and James Turrell.
 
We are looking forward to welcoming Melissa to Winterbourne for a workshop dedicated to painting water and light - 2 of Melissa’s favourites!

To go to Melissa’s upcoming workshop at Love Art click here.

For more information on Melissa go to www.melissawishart.com