Melissa is a New Jersey-based artist and children's book author/illustrator. She makes stories for picture book, chapter book, and middle grade readers. When writing and illustrating, Melissa loves using humor and/or lyricism to create books with scientific themes—building on ideas borne from learning about animal behavior, ecology, evolution, and conservation.
Her fine art is also influenced by nature and science and seeing where those themes lead when combined with abstraction. She also finds herself drawn to painting portraits and still life with art historical inspiration (particularly from the late 19th century) using contemporary subjects. She is interested in licensing her art in the home decor, wall art, gift, and other markets.
Melissa has degrees in marine biology, visual arts and web design and has worked in the pharmaceutical microbiology industry. She has taken online courses in illustration and surface pattern design and studied writing through various workshops, webinars and self-study. Her illustrations received an honorable mention in the 2024 PB Party Illustration Showcase.
You can contact her at: melissajmurrayart@gmail.com
See more of her work and process on Bluesky Cara, or Instagram:
