This series was inspired by a trip I took to California in May 2022 with some very dear friends of over 25 years. I joined the trip at the last minute on a bit of a whim after what felt like a series of life burnouts. Upon landing in California and exploring Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park for the first time, I was completely astonished by how powerful the landscape was and how truly minuscule and powerless we flet in comparison to oour vast natural surroundings. In this series I explored vaguely representational landscape painting combined with layered abstraction. The shapes and colour combinations evoke gut feelings and feeling memories of a place rather than an actual representation of what was actually there.

- Melanie Cheung 2022