In her recent series of black and white works, Melissa is interested in exploring painting using only two colours on a textured surface. She says: "It's a nice change from my big coloured paintings. I spend a lot of time thinking about the painting so I can get it right from the start. I like to start with a clear idea of what I want to do. If I don't get it right, I won't touch it until I know where I want it to go, and that might take days of looking and thinking. I have to have the vision of the painting clearly in my mind. When the experiment has gone right, I love it. Knowing that the buyer will love it and cherish it makes it worthwhile— to make someone else happy.""