Sur la Plage 3

Setting out to create this painting, Melissa Steinhauser aimed to capture her experience of the picturesque beaches she has visited over the course of her travels. At the coastline, "I feel carefree, hopeful, and energized," said the artist. "In this Sur la Plage series, I sought to convey visually the inner peace I felt while walking in the luminous coastal light, gazing at the endless horizon, headed towards the possibility of a new beginning."

SM Home currently has a suite of Sur la Plage watercolor paintings in a variety of sizes, which can be displayed together for great impact. Please inquire to see additional images of the series, in both warm and cool tonal palettes.

Melissa Steinhauser is an abstract painter, who works out of her Westport, CT studio producing work in acrylic on paper and canvas. With a degree in journalism from New York University she has over 20 years experience in fashion, notably at Elle Magazine before finding her painterly side. Her striking canvases borrow some of the same elements that make for good fashion – put simply, shape and color. Steinhauser’s sense of color is informed by some of her favorite designers such as Missoni, Etro and Emilio Pucci and has become even more refined by her training at Silvermine School of Art, where she studies with Derek Leka, an artist known for his expertise in color theory and abstract expressionism. Proving that abstract art is much more than arbitrary colors and haphazard shapes, Steinhauser’s deeply affecting pieces harness coordinated colors and carefully conceived shapes that make some of her pieces vibrate with emotion.