Melisa has been creative for as long as she can remember. As a child, she loved her coloured pencils and drew for hours on end. The first time she recalls taking deliberately artistic photographs of a beach scene, she was around 10 years old. Her Mother was creative with detailed embroidery and weaving, and her Father was an architectural illustrator, so there was a respect for all things creative at home. Melisa studied Visual Arts and Education at Melbourne University. She has worked as a professional photographer in a variety of positions since then and has also spent a few years teaching Photography, Art & Design in Secondary Schools and at University. She now spends a lot of her time working in her small business in professional Photography, which mainly focuses on weddings, family portraits and events. Melisa’s photography explores the inner workings of her mind and often contains imagery that has layers of meaning and sometimes extremely close viewpoints. She loves detail and strives to create photographic artworks that contain unexpected elements and are developed from multiple images or are altered to bring them to new meaning. Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop are her tools after the initial image capture has occurred. When she finds time and inspiration, Melisa draws and paints. She is constantly developing her painting skills and discovering new possibilities with each work.  Melisa’s extensive travels have provided her with imagery and experiences that are a constant companion in her artistic journey. She is especially attracted to ancient cultures and is influenced by Lithuanian and Latvian jewellery and woodcraft designs, the intricately carved work of the Cambodian and Egyptian temples and the spectacular designs found in nature.  Some of her artwork is figurative and some is of a more abstract nature. Her style varies with each piece, depending on the media and motivation behind it. Jewellery design adds a different direction, in which some of her work is highly decorative, feminine and is often somewhat reminiscent of ancient Baltic jewellery.  Melisa’s proudest artistic achievement is to have the ability to apply herself to a wide range of media and create diverse works. She has high level skills in Photography and digital image creation, and is also a competent jewellery designer and maker, painter, illustrator, designer, seamstress and dabbles in floristry.