pet portraits

I’ve created a short video, called “Scratchboard Start to Finish,” to demonstrate my step-by-step progress in creating this 6” x 6” painting “Silly Selfie.” See my initial inspiration, reference photos, tools I used for scratching, tips and techniques, the addition of watercolor and the finishing details. You might recognize this selfie from a photo transfer I demonstrated in my Claybord 101 workshop and video. Recently I was trying to think of something unique and challenging for a new Scratchbord™ painting, … Read More

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

Yahoo, I’ve just finished my final portrait in the “9 Lives” series of my little Jethro. 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. I have exhausted my supply of various mediums among my art supply stash with the first 8 portraits, so this time I splurged on a new medium. After researching various types of color markers I purchased a couple … Read More

Portrait #8 of Jethro the crazy kitty is done in graphite. 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. I haven’t worked with graphite for decades, so I had to dust off my pencils and get my feet wet again. Claybord is ultra-smooth, with no ‘tooth’ as is common in paper surfaces designed to trap the particles when drawing with graphite, charcoal, … Read More

My 7th Jethro portrait is an Image Transfer. 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. This image transfer onto Claybord is a fun project to use with photographs, lettering, or with any image printed from a laser printer or copier (not ink jet). I had never tried the process, but I thought it would be a fun addition to my Jethro … Read More

This is my portrait #6 of Jethro, created with gouache paints 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. Gouache (pronounceed “gwash”) is a water soluable paint, sometimes called opaque watercolor or body color. It is a mixture of pigment, a water soluble binder, and a white pigment or chalk (the ‘body’). The latter is added to … Read More

My 5th Jethro portrait is created with colored pencils 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 used Prismacolor colored pencils, which have a soft core. The Claybord surface is ultra-smooth, unlike many papers made for color pencils which have a “tooth.” The lead in colored pencils holds pigments in a wax base, … Read More

Portrait #4 of cute kitty Jethro illustrates using Black Sumi Ink 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 used Yasutomo liquid Sumi Ink KY12, which is water soluable but dries water-resistant. This ink is made from pure vegetable soot, with no additives. Yasutomo brand’s KF series contains a small amount of shellac … Read More

My third portrait of my sweet cat Jethro illustrates using Golden Fluid Acrylics 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 posterized my reference photo in Photoshop to reduce it down to a handful of values. I used just four colors of acrylic paint, with Paynes Gray as the darkest value. I mixed … Read More

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