Claybord™ 101 Resources

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This post contains comprehensive information to expand upon my presentation “Claybord™ 101 – The Ultimate Art Surface.” Below you will find “9 Lives” – 9 portraits of my cat Jethro in 9 different media, all on 3.5″ square Claybord Art Tiles. Scroll below to discover numerous valuable links to helpful tips on using Claybord, great articles, how-to videos (including my video of the presentation), and to the work of many fine artists using Claybord. I hope you are inspired use … Read More

Fox Alert!

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  When we moved to our house in Tennessee, red foxes were among the abundance of wildlife we spotted in the surrounding woods. The red fox reference photo I found on Wildlife Reference Photos for Artists intrigued me, crying out to be painted! I love doing animals on scratchboard, and the inquisitive fox pose was a perfect candidate. Initially I planned to use black #Ampersand #Scratchbord™, my recent focus. As my design concept developed I switched gears… watercolor on #Claybord™ … Read More

I’m An Ambassador

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Earlier this month I received an invitation to be an “Ampersand Artist Ambassador” and I am truly honored. Ampersand™ Art Supply is family-owned company based in Buda TX which engineers the only archivally sealed artist panels on the market today. They produce the panels I love to use for watercolors and scratchboards and a variety of other art panels for many media… plus tools, inks, floater frames and more. The company hand-picked about 50 artists from across the US to … Read More

Scratchboard 101

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Here are valuable reference sources and hot links to help those of you who attend Scratchboard 101 presented by Judy Lavoie… and to help anyone else looking for great scratchboarding information! https://wfi.xfi.mybluehost.me References and Resources: ONLINE: Ampersand Art, Supplier of Aquabord™, Scratchbord™, Claybord™, other art panels, tools, inks, and great source of information: ampersandart.com Ampersand blog post about Aquabord™ Aquabord 101 Ampersand supplier for the UK, with a good blog post on scratchboards and other panels: Extraordinary Surfaces for Your … Read More

An Old Friend Revisited

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  When I opened a new package of three little Aquabord™ panels, I thought I was trying a new painting surface… a thin layer of fine white kaolin clay on a hardboard with a pebbly texture, heralded as ideal for use with watercolors. The surface absorbs watercolor pigment similarly to cold-pressed (textured) watercolor paper, but the paint can be easily removed. It’s sometimes known as scratchboard, and when I was a kid we created our own by covering heavy paper … Read More

March: In Like a Lion

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  March came ‘in like a lion’ where I live in SE Tennessee (with tornado warnings) and in many other parts of the country, so I’ll stick with that as the theme I had already chosen for this month’s features.  “Her Highness” was one of my first animal paintings, during what might be called my African wildlife phase. My wonderful friends Bill and Lois had been on safaris in Africa and came home with amazing photographs. They invited me to … Read More