Judy Lavoie

I just heard that two of my paintings have been accepted to an upcoming biennial exhibition called “No Bigger Than a Breadbox.” There were 384 entries and only 67 have been juried into the show, so I am delighted with the news. My black Scratchbords “Locked In Time”, with color added with inks, and “Eye Of The Tiger” will be featured. (You can see the small size of “Eye Of The Tiger” shown in my hand in the photo). The … Read More

Remember the scratchboard “Wee Lad” I last posted about? Well, I messed it all up! Here’s what happened…. I considered this a learning piece, so I decided to continue beyond the black and white stage and add some color. Since I was imagining the little boy as a Scottish lad, I thought it would add to the look to give him blue/green irises. I stratched away a bit more in his eyes to allow the color to show better and … Read More

I’ve just learned a new scratchboard technique for creating smooth transitions between shades of gray. It’s a great improvement over what I was doing. Sheryl Unwin, a fabulous scratchboard artist, was generous to share her methods for both stippling and hatching in a 4-session Zoom workshop. I’ve created “Wee Lad,” a small 5” x 7” Scratchbord™, with her tips. I love my results, but I need more practice to really latch onto this technique. It is rather time consuming … … Read More

“Fishing the Tellico” is the first watercolor painting I’ve completed in months, having spent my “art” time creating scratchboard art, painting a few pet portraits in acrylics, participating in some Zoom art sessions, and creating this new website. Switching media keeps things interesting, but it always takes me a bit of time to readjust. I put together a palette of many transparent colors for this painting and arranged them like a rainbow. To help me see the colors better I … Read More

Pet lovers everywhere know that their companions’ lives are too short. Over many years, I’ve painted more than three dozen pet portraits. My first three pet portraits (shown below) were done in charcoal in 1980, of my own first pets, Cleo, Ernie, and Pluto. Paintings of my own dogs and cats trigger precious memories, especially after the pets have died. I am grateful to be able to do this for other pet owners as well. My portrait of Mango was … Read More

Dog portraits are one of my favorite subjects, so when I was commissioned to paint beautiful Bandit it was a delight. We decided on an acrylic painting on an 8×10 canvas. My customer Erin sent me a few reference photos and I was immediately drawn to the one with the tilted head (#1 in my photo collage shown below). But on closer inspection, I didn’t particularly like the glare on Bandit’s nose and the reflections in his eyes, caused either … Read More

  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

  Hot off the press, my 2021 Fine Art calendar. Perfect reproductions of 13 of my newest paintings, including watercolors, inks, and scratchboards. Enjoy a beautiful image each month, in a 8.5″ x 6.5″ folded size, ready to hang in a handy spot. Great for gift-giving or to keep for yourself Each calendar is $15, plus shipping: For 1, add $4.75 For 2, add $5.45 For 3, add $8.25 For 4 or 5, add $10.90 Order more than 5 for … Read More

  If you are anywhere near Tucson Arizona in the next few months, stop and see a fabulous gallery show of the finest scratchboard art in the world! I am proud to be one of 48 artists included in the 9th Annual Exhibition 2020 of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists, with two of my newest scratchboards having been selected to be among only 40 in the Open category. The exhibition catalog beautifully illustrates the amazing work of scratchboard artists … Read More

It’s been more than a year since I first learned of my artwork being chosen among a select group to be featured in two eminent fine arts magazines. With the publisher changing ownership and adjustments due to the pandemic, both magazines were delayed from their original publish dates. Now they are out and my printed copies have arrived in my mailbox. I am proud to have my artwork honored in two mediums, acrylics and watercolor. The Best of Acrylic… honors … Read More