As a painter of animals, I know it is difficult to depict black fur. A big solid area of black just doesn’t cut it – you have to capture the highlights to make it look realistic and give it dimension. I was ready for the challenge of painting a black cow. This is my first cow art on Scratchbord®. My two previous cow paintings, Eat Chicken and Cow’s In The Corn, were both very colorful, created in watercolor on … Read More
“Heart to Heart” is the third in my new series of scratchboards done in what I call a ‘purist’ method. These are a big departure from my previous scratchboards, in that these use no paint! I’ve done a few black scratchboards in the recent past (Pink Lady, Hair of the Dog and The Queen), but each of them used colors to help define the values. In the purist approach, the black surface is scratched to reveal whites, and the different … Read More
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
After recently creating a few paintings of fury and feathered creatures on Scratchbord®, I decided to feature some other favorite subjects in my newest scratchboard painting: wildflowers and weathered barnwood. The black background and the process of scratching down to a white surface favor subjects with light values and strong textures; with this in mind, I’ve learned that I need to select my subjects and plan my compositions differently than I do when painting on white paper or canvas. Wild … Read More
Art is a constant learning process for me. I painted “Scarlett – Red-Tailed Hawk” in a similar manner as I painted “Hair of the Dog,” using transparent fluid acrylic paints on a small 6″x6″ black scratchboard panel, but this time depicting feathers vs. fur. The photos of my work in process highlight some of the steps in capturing this majestic bird. The technical info in the second half of this post may be of particular interest to other artists who … Read More
I feel like I’ve been a bit spastic with my art recently – jumping from watercolor to acrylics, working on paper, canvas, and panels. Whatever I am working on at the time is my favorite. There are so many different art materials and methods I want to try, and it’s a continuous learning process. Perhaps someday I’ll settle down and concentrate on one medium and one surface; I’m still figuring out what kind of artist I want to be when … Read More