What is...?

I added a "What is...?" paragraph to my website. What is scratchboard? I'm asked that question a lot and thought I'd finally put a little blurb in explaining it before viewing my actual scratchboard examples. I used the easy approach, wikipedia, and got a nice quick sum up.

I hope to one day write a more in depth, with pictures, more personal, 'What is...?" when I have the time.

The Yogster Cat

Happy 2009! I hope everyone had a lovely new year's and will have a great 2009! I'm hoping for a great new year! To start off the new year here is a new commission I finished. I was very excited to do this one, especially considering I know this cat in person. He's a big orange tabby cat named Yogi. One of my favorite nicknames for him is Yogster. He's very friendly, smart but dumb; he'll sit and give paw for treats and yet he has run through a banister and caused himself internal bleeding [he was fine!].

I definitely want to practice cats more and I still have yet to do some experimenting out of the scratchboard realm. I hope that day will come before classes start and my free time is limited. We'll see.

Medium: Scratchboard with watercolor wash
Size: 5x7
VIEW FULL SIZE

The Boxer

This commission was of a Boxer. The woman wanted it as a gift for her son because the dog is getting old and may pass soon. Certainly a nice gift! I worked on my short fur rendering...slowly getting there. Very tedious. I really worked on a new method for the eyes and nose which I think is working quite well.

Medium: Scratchboard with a watercolor wash
Size: 8x10
VIEW FULL SIZE

Cracker Jax

Introducing Jax the mixed breed. The first commission I received at Mutts Mania [the fundraiser for the animal shelter I participated in]. I'm so proud to finally be giving money to the shelter via my artwork. I tried a few different techniques I'm learning from fellow artists on eyes, noses, and fur rendering and trying to slowly apply that to my own style of scratchboard. I feel a lot less stressed having this commission finally done. Now I want to take a short break before I start my next commission and play with my new Golden Open Acrylic paints!

Original Photo:
[will upload later]

Final Results [VIEW FULL SIZE]:
Medium: Scratch board with a watercolor wash. Size: 11x14

Beagle Pup

If this wasn't a commission I would possibly keep it. He is a Beagle puppy, so cute, and I'm pretty content with how he came out. I'm not sure what his name is [I have to find that out]. For this scratch board I went for a 'more is less' approach. Also to substitute the hands, which I didn't want in the piece I replaced them with a piece of wood. So, it appears as if the pup is hanging over the side of a wooden fence of some sort. I think it fits. It only took me about 3 hours over 2 days to finish this guy. I really hope to finish off the other 2 commissions I have before November is over so if I don't get any commissions for the holidays I don't have any back logging. I also went to a demo for Golden Open Acrylic paints. The demo was interesting...mostly I felt like I was at a lecture but instead at the end I received free samples. Yay! I can't wait to start experimenting with them.

Original Photograph:


Final Results [VIEW FULL SIZE]:
Medium: Scratch board with a watercolor wash. Size: 5x7

The PHA Gala Event

I'm so happy. The owner of Phinney asked me awhile back if I would donate to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association that is having a gala event. This will raise money for awareness and research of this rare disease that is very close to me. I donated a gift certificate for one 5x7 pet portrait. Phinney's portrait was displayed as an example along side the gift certificate to be auctioned off. The gift certificate went for over $75!! The owner even told me that some people wanted to buy Phinney's portrait but that wasn't up for auction. I'm so happy I was able to give money to a cause by doing something I absolutely love.

Jagger the Lab

And another commission to check off the list. I tried a couple of different techniques with this one. First; for the fur on the body I tried a different fur rendering that I'm not entirely happy with but it helped me learn. I still think it looks good as a fur render but not quite there yet with the perfection of short furred dogs. Second; I used an acrylic based paint that I watered down to get the creamy color of the coat since they don't sell cream colored inks. It worked nicely. Third; I timed this one. I'm not sure how accurate it is but over the course of a week and a half, this piece took me a total of 6 and a half hours. Since I don't have any previous record of how long scratchboard tends to take me I'm not sure how to judge that. But...I think I'll judge that as being acceptable. And fourth; I had to creatively sketch in the rest of the feet and tail since the original photograph didn't supply them. Yay for creative licenses.

Okay, enough about how I went about the piece. Here is Jagger the Labrador.

Original Photograph:


Final Results [VIEW FULL SIZE]:
Medium: Scratch board with a watercolor wash and acrylic wash. Size: 11x14