Tiger Scratchboard Just Finished

Slowly moving along here.  I’m really enjoying working through these projects.  Without the looming deadlines I once faced with my gallery, I have the luxury of devoting as much time to a piece as necessary to bring it to a satisfactory finish.  Three new pieces every two months at this level of detail was a stressful pace.  Hopefully multiple shows are in the future for this piece, starting with the Berks Art Alliance show this summer and The Goggle Works in Reading, PA. Goggle Works Offical Site

My goal is to produce at least ten scratchboards of this quality in time for the 2013 judging of the International Scratchboard Society.  I am currently an active member and I’m hoping to achieve at least a signature membership, which is one step down from the best of the best.  As a charter member of the society, it’s a distinction that will do well on my resume.

 

2012
05/25
CATEGORY
GENERAL
SCRATCHBOARD
WILDLIFE
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New Work and New Life

After a considerable leave of absence I am finally back with new work to share.  Life has taken on a new dynamic with the birth of my first born son this January.  He is a welcome companion with me in the studio, but has thus far proven to be a harsh critic.  I hope he does not forever have a habit of crying when he sees something he does not like.  :)

This first piece is a nearly completed oil painting intended for our living room.  I have little of my work hanging in our home, much to my husband’s chagrin, and this is meant to add to the tribal feel in that space.  It may be slated for the Berks Art Alliance competition this summer and if accepted I will be having prints made, however the original is destined only for my home.  It is my largest oil painting thus far, at 18X36 with the addition of abstract elements adding a new flair.  I wanted to introduce a touch of the human culture that surrounds these animals in their home.

Tribal Patterns

18X36, Oil

Image

This piece is my newest scratchboard in progress and represents a move towards more dramatic lighting for these works, which will remain in black and white.  For this and many following pieces, I hope to use this medium’s strength for chiaroscuro to its fullest potential.

16X12, Scratchboard

Image

This final image is my official moment to brag.  :)   This is my son, at fourteen weeks of age.  Getting to know this little person has been a tremendous joy, especially on the days when he sleeps through the night.  I’m blessed to have  happy and content baby who already seems insatiably curious about his world, so much so that he has grown to dread his nap time, that however, is another story for another blog.

 

2012
04/26
CATEGORY
GENERAL
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New Scratchboard – “The Last Prince”

 

This work, of an Amur Leopard, was something of an experiment.  My goal was to finish this in full blended color, whereas in previous works I had limited the color to certain areas or else applied only one layer of ink.  I wanted to achieve a look of depth to this fur with darker underhair receding below lighter guard hair.   Before completion, it required four layers of scratching and five of ink.  Easily the most I’ve put into any piece thus far.  I believe it was success and though I still vastly prefer the stark look of a black and white board, I can see many more similar to this in the future.

 

The Last Prince - critically endangered

Scratchboard, 8X10.

 

2011
11/22
CATEGORY
GENERAL
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Completed Tiger – “Predatory Intent”

After many layers of ink and scratches, this behemoth is finally complete.  And none to soon since it’s expected at my co-operative at the start of the week.

Scratchboard, 11X14

2011
08/27
CATEGORY
SCRATCHBOARD
WILDLIFE
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New Series – Butterfly Garden

I’ve just started a new series of small scratchboard works which will be more affordable than many of the larger pieces.  These images will mostly be of various species of butterflies and possibly some other insects.  I’ve completed one so far  and am quite pleased with it.  So far, I find the challenge of modeling form in scratchboard very enjoyable and it is a nice change of pace from works where I am largely rendering fur.

 

2011
08/19
CATEGORY
GENERAL
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Tiger – Scratchboard in Progress

Information on this work should have been forthcoming some time ago as this piece is nearly halfway to completion.  I had in mind a portrait of a tiger that would be very confrontational and predatory, with raking light and strong chiaroscuro.  Wildlife art is flush with romantic portrayals of apex predators and I wanted something a little more sinister.  This is ambitious for me as I don’t have any images in my reference collection that would fit that description.  This composition is largely a conglomerate of at least a half dozen images; none of which featured precisely the type of lighting I was seeking; zoos tend not to be good locations for dramatic lighting.  From studying multiple images, I hope to accurately model the bone structure of this animal so the shadows falling across it’s face will be convincing.  The side to the viewer’s right should be lost in shadow compared to the lit half on the left.

Again, this is a scratchboard, 14X11.  Unfortunately I can’t positively I.D. the subspecies since I’ve sampled from multiple images, but it closely resembles a Bengal.  Click on the image for viewing at a higher resolution.

2011
08/03
CATEGORY
GENERAL
SCRATCHBOARD
WILDLIFE
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New Scratchboard – Grey Wolf

This is my largest and most ambitious scratchboard thus far.  I seriously underestimated how much work would be necessary to nearly cover such a large board and it became far more involved than I had anticipated.  However, I am quite pleased with the results and this piece is now framed and ready for the coming show at my gallery.  The title makes this a little politicized, especially for someone living near Yellowstone where these animals have been reintroduced.  Perhaps they are responsible for taking the occasional animal from a rancher’s herd, but they are not the sinister villains that popular sentiment would have them be.  Wolves are sorely misunderstood animals, with stories like Red Riding Hood and some primeval fear we have elicited by their chilling howl.  Yet, in their social structure, they are not unlike ourselves, more so than any other major predator.  We don’t need to wipe out our apex predators in order to live in peace with them.

We Must Not Be Enemies

12X16

2011
06/30
CATEGORY
SCRATCHBOARD
WILDLIFE
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Little Green Frog

Here’s the newest in my Little Friend series.  I have a great fondness for frogs, they have so much personality, for something cold-blooded that is.  This is the second installment in what will be quite a few more of this species.  I felt like the proverbial light bulb finally went off and I managed to tackle the look of a smooth surface on the bamboo stem.  Now I just need to apply the same technique to the next frogs.

Little Friend II – Red-Eyed Green Tree Frog, Scratchboard, 5X7

2011
05/06
CATEGORY
GENERAL
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Masked Weaver – Finally Finished

This update has been a long time in coming.  I finished this piece quite a while ago and it is already framed and on display at the Art Plus Gallery in W. Reading, Pa.  I’m quite happy with the result, which came far easier than the last bird I had used as a subject.  I have decided that for the time being, there will be no more scratch board works of birds for me, only oils – it’s far less aggravating.  The woven nest was time consuming but caused me less grief than I had expected.

Interrupted – Southern Masked African Weaver

11X14, Oil on Masonite.

2011
05/06
CATEGORY
GENERAL
OIL
WILDLIFE
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Masked Weaver Update

I’m long overdue for an  update for this project.  It’s moving along nicely and I’m enjoying working with the new Rembrandt oils colors that I purchased, as they have a far more creamy consistency with a higher pigment load than the W&N brand that I had previously been using, which could be very oily.  They are more expensive than W&N but you get what you pay for and the difference is making my life easier.  This looks like it’s rather far along but there is still so much more to be done.  I need to model the lights and darks in the grasses a great deal yet; they are still only a refined underpainting and appear very flat.  I want them to really look like a dimensional, tangled mess and that will require much more work.  And I’ve only just started working on the bird.  I’m hoping to capture the “business first” attitude that I remember from these guys; nothing is more important to him than finishing that nest and the viewer is but a rude interruption.

I’ve enjoyed working on these far less familiar species.  Charismatic animals like elephants and lions tend to get more coverage and the finished paintings certainly attract more attention.  Unfortunately, so many paintings have been done of lions and their ilk, they have become almost cliche.  It’s time for the less notable but equally precious species to have their day in the sun.

Southern Masked Weaver; 14X11, Oil on Masonite.

2011
04/14
CATEGORY
OIL
WILDLIFE
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