Where most people kept photo albums, I filled sketchbooks — page after page, each a window into somewhere I’d wandered, dreamed, or simply paused to notice. My story isn’t just about painting landscapes or the perfect still life. It’s about cataloging the world as I experienced it: sipping a hot tea outside a Cotswold Cottage, just looking at a lighthouse on a brisk Maine morning, conjuring up stories about the figures as I drew and painted them.

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Over decades, my watercolors became a living diary. Some entries are quick splashes of color, capturing the energy of a moment before it faded. Others are careful meditations of the peculiar poetry of everyday objects. In the margins, I scribbled notes: who I met that day, what the air smelled like, the odd thoughts that floated past as I painted.

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My work is not about flawless technique, but more about presence, finding lightness, experiencing joy,  seeing extraordinary in the ordinary. Through my eyes, the world is a little softer, a little brighter, and always worth exploring.

- Melissa Erlenbach (Searle)