Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Portland's West End on scratchboard


I haven't worked in black and white for quite some time and decided to pull out some scratchboard. The winter weather pattern has been merciless this year in the northeast and we are buried in mountains of the white stuff...with more on the way. The colorless scenery and a few other things have inspired me. Scratchboard is a heavy vellum paper coated with a clay/ink surface which can then be removed using various techniques and tools.You essentially work backward. The resulting images can sometimes look much like woodcut and lino block prints.
This drawing is 8 x 11 and was done freehand by using an ink pen nib and exacto knife. Usually a drawing on tracing paper with graphite on the back is placed over the top and transferred to the board. Curved lines are the most difficult to master with knives and nibs... but this medium really intrigues me...so I'm going to start another and there are older drawings that will be posted as well..

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love this technique...well done!!
And freehand too??!! I am impressed!!