Scratchboard

  These contemporary-organic, 3 inch deep, mixed media panels feature carved niches and channels that literally create stages for lake stones and glass. The panels are top-coated with light cement and painted, giving the impression of clay, but without the weight.

 Melissa Helene is a scratchboard artist living and working in the Midwest. She is an uncredentialed artist who has been learning and growing as an artist for over 15 years in a variety of mediums. She is currently a Signature member of the International Society for Scratchboard Artists (ISSA), Associate member of the association of American Women Artists, and an Associate member of the Society of Animal Artists. The bulk of her work consists of highly detailed, photo realistic wildlife scratchboard portraits and landscapes. Melissa Helene Fine Arts and Photography, launched in January 2015, is dedicated to using art and creative expression to raise awareness of wildlife, wild places, and conservation issues to help protect the very places and creatures that inspire her work.

By focusing on the minute details that make every being unique, you can capture the very essence of their soul. As an artist, she strives to capture the true nature of the people, creatures, and lands that together make up the breath-taking world that surrounds us. Her work shows individuals as they are, finding beauty in everything they represent. 

Melissa’s fine art scratchboard work is inspired by endangered species and wild places. This high contrast, hyper-detailed medium is perfect for wildlife portraits and expansive landscapes. Her work is photo realistic and exclusively black and white.

Melissa’s goal as an artist is to create a collection of work that speaks to people on a deeper level, challenging them to see nature in a different way, and make them take another look at not only the pieces but how they interact with the world. Her personal goal as an artist is to build a sustainable business that allows her to dedicate her time and energy to creating pieces that make a significant contribution to the art world and protection of all things wild.

I am a Type A girl in a Type B world - I live and die by my color-coded calendar and detailed spreadsheets. Even my chosen medium is Type A - scratchboard is clean, highly-detail oriented, orderly, and every scratch in a piece has an intention and a place. I am an artist in my bones and love working in black and white and celebrating wildlife, but I've been successful in my first three years because I am a businesswoman by nature. I'm building a business that merges my talent as an artist with my desire to be Earth-conscious and help protect wildlife and their habitats. This is my passion, but it's also my livelihood.

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I am a full-time, self-employed artist who, at one time, had ZERO intention of having a creative career. At 18, the thought of being a "starving artist" was completely undesirable. I craved stability and assurances of a path moving forward, so I leaned on logic and reason and landed at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities majoring in...Sociology! (Yes, that means I do NOT have a degree in the fine arts)

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Fast forward to today and I'm exactly where I didn't think I'd be...and it's amazing! I love my job! I get to create art and travel around the country and make a living doing it...to put it simply. The path is not laid out for me because I'm building it one brick at a time every day, but it challenges me in really exciting ways so I push through the tough days of business ownership and that's what we call entrepreneurship!