My Art Process

I work both traditionally with watercolor and mixed media as well as digitally in Procreate and Photoshop. I love mixing and matching the two and just working in the medium that is speaking to me at the moment.

Two things I love working on at the moment are coloring books and picture books inspired by my daughter and my own childhood memories.

Picture book illustration of a little girl picking wildflowers
Picture Book Illustration of a little girl Sneaking Treats to her little dog

The little girl picking wildflowers is inspired by my daughter and the image of the little girl sneaking treats to her well-fed dog is a moment from my own childhood.

Hey Friend! I'm Melanie

The artist behind The Swimming Owl.

I love ALL the colors, reading fantasy, rewatching the same few shows repeatedly, cooking ethnic food, tinkering in my garden, traveling with my family, and just generally trying new things. You never know what I will be up to next because I tend to be a bit whimsical. Just ask my husband…. I’m sort of a creative whirlwind.

I am a mom to my daughter, Arabella, a pup named Quetzy, and a bird named Promise. We live in the cold (and usually snowy) Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Seriously, Summer lasts like 3 minutes here.

Email Me: melanieAbess@gmail.com

But really, you are wondering why The Swimming Owl... am I right?
Many many moons ago, while out on a walk with my husband in the woods (by his childhood home), we came across a very strange sight; an owl swimming in a pond. We could hardly believe our eyes as the great big bird swooshed (pretty sure that is a word) its wings through the water and moved from one end of the pond to the other. It seemed so darn happy to paddle around the pond… What was an owl doing swimming when we thought its life purpose was to fly? The sight of that owl swimming had me in awe for days. We still talk about "that owl we saw swimming that one time" and it inspired the name for my shop. If an owl can swim in a pond, I can open up an art shop and follow my creative dreams that once seemed too outlandish… and just see what could come of it!

If that made perfect sense to you, then we are best friends. 😅

I’m glad you are here. 💜