scratchboard

I love scratchboarding and I love chocolate, so I decided to combine the two in creating How Sweet It Is. I painted a big watercolor of chocolates years ago, Decadence, and it has always ranked among my personal favorite paintings. Even though this is a very very small artwork – just 4.5″ x 3″ – it took forever! The image was created with tiny marks into the black surface, slowly working my way throughout the panel. To be able to … Read More

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

  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

    You win some, you lose some. The stakes weren’t too high; I missed out on ‘bragging rights and a free t-shirt.’ But I gained a whole lot more. The International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) just selected artwork for their commemorative 2020 Exhibition t-shirts… and mine wasn’t chosen 🙁 I created “Anna’s Fairy Duster” with realistic expectations. I knew anything I entered would be a long shot to win, with my limited experience of just two years doing … Read More

  Beautiful ruby throated hummingbirds – the most common species which migrates to Eastern North America – visit our feeders from early April through the beginning of October. I’ve done numerous paintings of them, in watercolor and acrylics, and it was time for me to try one on scratchboard. As demonstrated in my previous post, I created a border design on a 14″ x 11″ black Scratchbord™, using colors to match those I planned to use in the artwork. For … 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

My scratchboard art has just been selected for an exhibit of the preeminent organization for scratchboard artists worldwide!! The International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) is holding their 9th Annual Exhibition in Tucson AZ later this year, and I have been accepted!  I achieved status as an active member of ISSA just last March, so this was my first opportunity to enter their annual exhibition.  My newest scratchboards “Locked In Time” and “Ruby-Throated Hummer” (which I’ll blog about individually at … 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