Tips and Techniques

  “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

An art idea hit me like a bullet one day – how about an alpaca painting? I love painting animals, alpacas are adorable, people love alpacas… I should have thought of this long ago! A friend had told me about her pet alpacas a while back, so I contacted her and asked if I could visit for photos. Right away, Beth invited me to come by, and we chose a lovely sunny afternoon. Three alpacas were in the fenced area: … Read More

I’ve wanted improve my skills with “character” paintings, since that’s a subject which challenges me greatly. I had signed up for a 3-day watercolor portrait workshop last year, taught by an artist whose work I love and admire. I bought the supplies and was all excited about the learning opportunity, but sadly the workshop was cancelled at the last minute. The artist had described her method of painting with a limited palette of the 3 primary colors, which I often … 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

I started doing art as a kid and never stopped! As a fine art painter, my learning curve has often been accelerated by tips and hints I’ve learned from other artists. Sometimes ideas come from workshops or demos, not only from the instructor but from other attendees. Other times they come from creative friends in art groups or other gallery exhibitors. Blogs, newsletters, social media groups and old-fashioned magazines are loaded with good art info. Often a fellow artist simply … 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

Cows have been very very good to me – the ones I’ve painted anyway. When I initially got notice of my painting Eat Chicken being considered to hang in a children’s hospital, it was the first time I ever thought about kids as an audience for my art. I had been toying with the idea of doing another cow painting, and the old nursery rhyme “Little Boy Blue” inspired the idea for my newest work, “Cow’s In The Corn.” So … 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

For my newest painting I had two goals in mind: (1) to use acrylic paints in a highly transparent way, and (2) to use an odd shaped canvas I’ve had among my art supplies for too long. The canvas is three feet wide and a little over a foot tall, so I decided to use it horizontally and create a painting of a big backlit red poppy from my garden. To begin, I reviewed many poppy reference photos in my … Read More