Gallery: Paintings by Melissa Croghan

Grandfish
Watercolor on Arches cold pressed paper framed

This old gentleman posed for me inside the studio and it was later that day that I decided the background was too sterile. So I moved him outside (though he was long gone by that time) put him in near a big tree. I utilized the white of the paper, and pooled colors together to create this portrait. I like working in transparent watercolor for the way it allows me to show you my initial drawing underneath.

Superman
Watercolor on Arches cold pressed paper, 24 x 28”, framed

He had this cool black head of hair that under the studio lights looked blue to my eye. Ergo, the title, after the Superman in all the comic books I used to read, where the illustrator always inked in blue hair. And what with the somewhat nerdy plaid sweater, I could picture how this Superman had a secret identity.

Her Father’s Eyes
Oil paint and oil pastel on Canvas, 19 x 23”, framed

After completing this painting in oils, I came back in with oil pastels to create the heavy cross-hatching in the brow area. While the model’s eyes are brown in real life, she is thinking that she resembles her blue-eyed father in many ways. Thus, my decision to give this somewhat enigmatic face those same blue eyes. Last note: she is not without conflict over the whole business of their similarities.

The Tempest
Pastel on Wallis sanded paper, 16 1/4” x 18 1/4”, framed

I had been thinking a lot about Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” lately and so when my model posed with a book, I imagined she was reading that great play about the new world. I played up the model’s stormy brows, perhaps to mirror the fabled storm in The Tempest, and somehow even a circling storm of light emerges above the chair she is sitting in.

Study in Blue
Pastel on Colour-fix sanded paper, 18 x 24”

This model held her pose a bit tensely, but I played up this feature with an intense blue background. I aimed at showcasing the brilliant light on her arms and legs without sacrificing the complimentary colors of blue and oranges.

Rich in Dreams
Pastel on Wallis sanded paper, 17 x 23”, framed

The texture of the paper (good tooth) along with the mark making power of pastels helped me to pull off this portrait of a lovely sleepy toddler

Self-Portrait
Pastel on Wallis sanded paper, 18 1/4” x 26 1/4”, framed

I was casting about for a model and since none was to be seen I used myself. Then I was casting about for a novel approach to my predictable hair, so I wrapped a scarf I had in my studio around my head and went to work. Again, I love the tooth on this paper and how it yields so much texture. I very nearly called this ‘my younger hippie-self’ because in many ways it is just that.

Sometimes I wonder
Watercolor on Arches cold pressed paper, 24 x 30”, framed

I get a lot of response to this painting. It was a hot day and there was no air conditioning in the studio where she posed. I wanted to capture the sense of heat here along with this woman’s cool demeanor, not to mention her far away thoughts. Lots of lost and found edges.

Sun in Her Eyes
Pastel on Canson paper, 17 x 23”, framed

This was a teenager who was not particularly happy about having her portrait done. But when she saw the purple shadow under her chin, she came around. She decided it was a daring move!

Chinese Tattoo
Vine charcoal on paper, 18 x 24”

This was a ten-minute studio pose so I worked quickly. I wanted to get down her strong shape. The model had a fascinating tattoo and I had to use restraint so as not to make too much of it in the drawing. The Chinese words had to do with balance, and that is what I strove for in conveying this woman’s limbs.

She Never Missed a Summer
28" (height) x 24" (width) framed

Crippled from severe diabetes and arthritis for the last decade of her life, the subject of this oil painting, Eileen, loved Mackinac deeply. The library here was in her home, White Birches on the West Bluff, one of two houses she lived in – often in spring, summer, and fall -- since her birth in 1923. Eileen created a number of trails on the island, still in plentiful use today by walkers and riders, including Coffee Trail, and Nicki Trail. In the 1960s she was asked by the Mackinac State Park to create a map of the island trails. With five children in tow, all she could find to execute this onerous task was a box of crayons. She went to work using the crayons and came up with an accurate, large and colorful map that was a key reference for trail maps in use today.

My reference for this painting was memory, and a photo in which Eileen is in her nightgown and there is much other stuff in the room. My artistic license allowed me to paint her as you see here with her beloved books and little dog.

The Ferry to Another World
Oil on canvas, 6 1/4” x 8 1/2”, framed

This child was happy but surprisingly calm about leaving the mainland and bouncing over the waves to the island. The creamy clouds, and the smooth application of paints (unlike my usual impasto) reflect her serene state.

The Driver's Hat
22" (height) 26" (width) framed

Most summers of my life I have enjoyed and observed the hardworking carriage drivers of Mackinac. This particular one caught my eye because here is this guy, Rob, engaged in double, maybe triple duty, keeping the horse and omnibus carriage in line while waiting patiently for customers to climb inside the cozy Victorian world of this fine old bus, AND thirdly he is responding kindly to a little girl who wanted to try on his top hat. I enjoyed the challenge of creating a story with people, human kindness, the sturdy reality of wood carriage, and atmospheric perspective leading the eye along flower bed and up the bending road to the West Bluff. Rhythmic brushstrokes and impasto paint bring this one to life.

A Bridge of Colors
oil on canvas

It was a terrifically gusting day as I stood outside and painted the Lieutenant River in Essex, Connecticut. The wind kept blowing my easel over, so it's amazing I got it finished intact. This painting hangs in the permanent collection at The UCONN Wellness Center and Hospital.

Desert Longing
oil on canvas

I painted this looking back at my five years living in the high Sonoran Desert. Used a small photo of our yard to spark my imagination and memory of what I liked to think of as the river of gold, golden desert that is, far below our house on the side of the mountain.

Blue-green Winter
oil on canvas

This I painted out my window on a day of some warmth, despite the snow. I wanted to upend the typical landscape here, and so put the tree smack in the middle, deliberately breaking up the space and creating an expressionistic mood.

Hidden Branches
oil on canvas

I painted this one outside very quickly. The sun was hot, the leaves thick (to wit: the title) and there was even a hot wind. You can sense the heaving trees.

Mackinac Patterns
oil on canvas

I leaned on this fence on the West Bluff of Mackinac Island about a thousand times. It is near the end of the cliffwalk, right down from where I spent every summer of my life growing up. This painting spent the summer and fall at an exhibit at the Manoongian Mackinac Museum.

Not your typical reaction to Arch Rock, which is one reason I so enjoyed painting it. I took advantage of the mark-making of the pastel stick and of the fine sandpaper to create lots of texture.

"In the Gloaming"
oil on canvas

I set up my easel on the somewhat bumpy ground in the middle afternoon with the shadows growing longer as I worked. It was a soft day in early fall and I could hear the tumbling brook as I painted. This slice of life is at The Bee and Thistle B&B in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

The Hackberry Tree
Oil on canvas, 28 x 33", framed

This shaggy character was started many years ago. I stashed it away, unfinished, when my son and my first daughter were born. Ten years later a storm felled this giant along with a number of other beauties in that yard in Chester County, Pennsylvania. What remained was this oil portrait of the Hackberry Tree that I returned to and completed this fall, thirty years after it was begun.

Note that there are several moons in this painting. I was looking out a window to paint this winter pond and little bridge, so I guess it should have been straightforward. I guess there is no accounting for the excesses of the brain.

Mackinac, on a fine day with great purple shadows.

I painted this one outside in Essex, Connecticut, and would like to give tribute to George Bellows and what I think of as his famous muscular clouds. The wind was racing along, and I gave some muscle to the high clouds here, and perhaps a face too.

Coming Home on Mackinac
Oil on Canvas

Coming Home on Mackinac
Oil on Canvas

Bewildered
Transparent watercolor on Arches Cold press paper

Bewildered
Transparent watercolor on Arches Cold press paper

Beyond the Wall
Oil on canvas

Beyond the Wall
Oil on canvas

Blue Tree I
Oil on canvas

Blue Tree I
Oil on canvas

Blue Tree II
Pastel on Mi-Teintes Canson paper

Blue Tree II
Pastel on Mi-Teintes Canson paper

Childhood
Oil on canvas

Childhood
Oil on canvas

Expansion

Faith Bleats to Understand
Oil on canvas

Faith Bleats to Understand
Oil on canvas

Mother Nature Saving the Wild Salmon
Transparent watercolor on Arches Cold Pressed paper

Mother Nature Saving the Wild Salmon
Transparent watercolor on Arches Cold Pressed paper

The Power of Reading (about Peruvian Bird Spirits)

Sharkey's Soul
Oil on canvas

Sharkey's Soul
Oil on canvas

Cal at the Table of Life
Oil on canvas

Cal at the Table of Life
Oil on canvas

She Never Missed a Summer
28" (height) x 24" (width) framed

Crippled from severe diabetes and arthritis for the last decade of her life, the subject of this oil painting, Eileen, loved Mackinac deeply. The library here was in her home, White Birches on the West Bluff, one of two houses she lived in – often in spring, summer, and fall -- since her birth in 1923. Eileen created a number of trails on the island, still in plentiful use today by walkers and riders, including Coffee Trail, and Nicki Trail. In the 1960s she was asked by the Mackinac State Park to create a map of the island trails. With five children in tow, all she could find to execute this onerous task was a box of crayons. She went to work using the crayons and came up with an accurate, large and colorful map that was a key reference for trail maps in use today.

My reference for this painting was memory, and a photo in which Eileen is in her nightgown and there is much other stuff in the room. My artistic license allowed me to paint her as you see here with her beloved books and little dog.

Cleo
Oil on canvas

Cleo
Oil on canvas

Basset Studies
Oil on canvas

Basset Studies
Oil on canvas

Dog Tunes
Oil on canvas

Dog Tunes
Oil on canvas

Daisy