inks

This second portrait of my rescued cat Jethro illustrates using Scratchbord Inks on a white Claybord™ panel. Each of my nine portraits of Jethro presents a different art medium on a 3.5″ x 3.5″ Claybord™ Tile, created and manufactured by Ampersand Art Supply. For this painting I made the Claybord into a black surface, very much like Ampersand’s Scratchbord™.  I did this by applying two coats of “Repair Black,” which is included as one of the inks in the set … Read More

I’m relatively new to black scratchboard, having done my first one just 2 years ago. The lesson which follows does not adher to the purist’s guideline for scratchboard, as reflected in this definition by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists: “…Sharp tools are used to remove, or “scratch”, through the black ink, revealing the white clay underneath.” In this border I have not used any abrasive tools to remove the black layer (although I went on to do the artwork … Read More

Through the wonders of technology, here’s a quick time-lapse of the creation of my new scratchboard “Locked In Time.” ‘Hard to believe that it took weeks, not seconds, to create this artwork! Learning to add a mini-video to my blog is one of my many quarantine-time activities. Perhaps I’ll get more adventurous (and better) in the future and maybe even add audio. Click on the photo to launch the slide show. On this 10″ x 8″ panel I aimed to … Read More

I had a 4″ x 9″ black Scratchbord panel just waiting for the right inspiration, and my photo of a gorgeous young Persian kitty named Roger got me started. I liked his colorful eyes, tuffs of fur, and pink nose. His upward gaze had me pondering what to add that would appear to be attracting his attention – while simultaneously creating a work of art more interesting than merely a cat portrait. Scratchboards are ideal for creating linear textures and, … Read More