Heart To Heart

"My dog Ellie Mae was the sweetest dog you could hope to know. Our cat Jasper, a rescue like Ellie, loved her just as others - human and furry. They often walked side by side and rubbed their faces against each other, so I wanted to capture this special relationship.

This artwork was created on black Scratchbord™. I chose a square panel and arranged my composition so that I could turn it 45 degrees and hang as a diamond shape, for added interest. I primarily used an x-acto knife blade to 'draw', scratching through the black india ink layer to the white clay surface below. Other tools I used included a scratching blade which made a thicker line (for the whiskers and for Ellie's hair which was coarser than Jasper's), and a fiberglass brush which uncovers the black layer with a soft edge, making the cat's fur look very fluffy. Various abrasive marks can be made into the scratchboard surface; in this case my marks primarily followed the direction of the fur growth. In Ellie's collar and tag, the scratches were primarily parallel or crosshatched lines, with more scratches in the areas which appear as lighter shades of grey.

The addition of color is possible on scratchboards and I decided to use it sparingly, just to emphasize their eyes. I chose Ampersand Art Claybord Inks since they are designed to color only the white areas of a scratchboard, leaving no residue on the black surface.

Precious Ellie Mae died of cancer and Jasper died a few months later after becoming blind from retinal detachment due to liver disease, so this painting is extra special to me."