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The ‘Wet Muse’ Series: Scratchboard
I’ve decided to start a series of articles about my art interests that began with the recent post, The Wet Muse.
A class I recently took was “scratchboard.” The name is the entire art — scratching marks on a board to reveal an image. The “board” is a white clay substance adhered to particle board and stained completely with black India ink. The boards come in a variety of sizes and finished art can be mounted in a “floater” frame for display.
What is fascinating about the art form is how the simple act of scratching can result in some very sophisticated images. And, although the media itself is only capable of a black-and-white image, color can be introduced into the scratches to create a more life-like outcome.
My instructor was artist Judie Lavoie. Here are a few of the scratchboard images she has created:
Her class preparation was as meticulous as her art. Every student had everything to hand to start their own efforts: written materials, practice boards, marking tools, transfer paper, and photo references for classroom practice. Judy also provided some inks with which students could try staining their work to add color.
Mrs Rodin’s mother, who you may recall attended some California anti-mask/shutdown demonstrations with me in May/June 2020, is partial to owls. So when a photograph of an owl was included in our reference materials I knew what project I would undertake. Judy included a photo in a recent blog post of my working on the owl in class. I was very honored to be singled out.
I added some ink to the eyes and on the feathers in the finished product and put it in a floater frame for Mrs Rodin’s mother. She lives in a memory care residence now and it hangs amongst other artworks created by Mrs Rodin. Here is a rather poor image I took of the hanging final art piece:
The color added to scratchboards can either be inks, watercolors, or acrylic paints. Once complete, the scratchboard is sprayed with a sealant to preserve everything.
What I have described is basic scratch boarding. But a true artist can elaborate on these materials and processes in any number of ways. Aquaboard is a watercolor substrate that an image can be painted upon and then parts can be “relieved” (scratched out) in ways that complete or enhance the image. Here is one example of Judy doing just that:
Scratches through the color forming the eyelid, and the skin folds surrounding the eye, give realism to the fine hairs that reside there.
Scratch tools can be purchased. The ones available at craft and art stores are typically used in woodcarving and linoleum relief carving. Exacto knives, needles, and any sharp item can also be used. It’s all about depth and shape. Judy on her recent blog was talking about trying out sanded erasers, steel wool, etc., to make shallow marks that “create the appearance of a fuzzy, out-of-focus background.”
The essential element in art is not specific materials or even skills. It is the compulsion to make art, to express one’s self. Those who are compelled can make art out of the unlikeliest of things and in the unlikeliest ways. The outcomes may be permanent or temporary. But for the time of the art’s existence, whatever that might be, they shout about the artist: “I am here!”
Published in Culture, Education
Those are amazing. Thank you for sharing this. When I read the initial paragraph on the Member Feed, I was not expecting those incredible creations. I am going to look into it.
Awesome, Rodin. You do have a gift. I hope you continue to explore it and enjoy your creations!
In editing for the front page, I embiggened the images because they’re amazing and deserve to be admired. Great work!
Way cool! Funny thing, this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge topic is “Textures”. Here are a couple of links to photographers who I follow, and my own.
https://rushbabe49.com/2022/11/20/lens-artists-photo-challenge-226-textures/ Mine
https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2022/11/20/lens-artists-challenge-226-textures/ Tina Schell, who lives on Kiawah Island, South Carolina
http://pilotfishblog.com/2022/11/20/lapc-226-textures/ Patti Moed
Another scratchboard technique starts out with the white clayboard without the India ink. Ink is applied where it is needed and then scratched off, which is suitable when a dark background is not desired. One artist who did this to a very high degree was Francis Lee Jacques (1887 – 1969). I’m not very adept at transferring images to give you a sample, but if you search for “Francis Lee Jacques scratchboard”, you’ll find some inspiring examples.
Hmm. Rodin, I dunno about this: “The essential element in art is not specific materials or even skills. It is the compulsion to make art, to express one’s self.”
I could spend 9,000 hours “expressing myself” and it would still look like a pre-schooler imitating Jackson Pollock (if anyone could indeed tell the difference between the 4 year old’s and Pollock’s works), not actually like an owl. You kind of need to be able to, you know, draw to get those results.
I have to second this. A man running around in a field, screaming at the top of his lungs, is reacting to the compulsion to express himself. Take the emotion, add natural talent and skills honed by years of hard work, and then you’ve got Beethoven. But without the talent and skills it’s just a guy screaming.
Self-expression is an inevitable by-product of doing any of the visual arts. A good illustration of this was the life-drawing we students did for three hours every morning while in the atelier. We were all trying to draw the model as accurately as possible, and our teacher would come around and make corrections if our drawings were off. None of us were seeking “self-expression” per se, nevertheless all of our drawings were different, and you could tell whose drawings were whose because they all had the individual stamp of that person – without trying. And I would point out that most of the great artists of the past would have been puzzled by this idea of self-expression as a goal, as it is of relatively recent vintage. The goal was to create a good picture, drawing, or sculpture. Self-expression was not the goal.