Sunday, January 27, 2013

Spotted






I'm the first to admit that "Spotted" is a cliche title for a drawing of a spotted cat; however, I thought the gaze of this leopard justified the title. This is the third big cat scratchboard I have done, there is one left (then on to the other wildcats).

Prints are available.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

WIP - Leopard

Here is a new scratchboard I am working on. This is a little bit of a closeup of the 8x10 drawing. There are no leopards at my zoo so I got the reference image from WetCanvas (user vmrs). I will be adding my own background/foreground to this soon.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Peacock Scratchboard



Here I have finished the peacock. I have to say I like painting, even if it is with ink, and will probably be doing more of this in the future. In the meantime, I want to finish the big cat series I started.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Peacock WIP


When I bought Ampersand's black ink that goes with the scratchboards, it came with a set of other colors: red, blue, green, yellow, and sepia. I figure I paid for them I may as well try them out, right? So here is the start of a peacock. I thought the colors would be relatively easy to mix, but the feathers are taking a long time to scratch in. Below is the start of the tail, and that is going to take forever.... but hopefully worth it!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Old King

Here is my new scratchboard drawing. This is Cosmo, an old male lion at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, NM. His former mate was one of the oldest lions in the country until she died of cancer last year.

This scratchboard is 8"x10", and I plan to continue the big cats with the next one.

Prints are available.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Out of the Jungle

Sometimes I get so into a drawing I lose track of time. That happened with this one.  "Out of the Jungle," a 5"x7" scratchboard, is finished. I used a reference photo provided by Jason Morgan, and added my own background. Soon I will write a post on the tools and techniques I am using.


Still More Scratchboard

Ringtail Lemurs - finished
I love scratchboard. I feel in some respects that the last six years I have spent drawing in pencil were only preparation for this. The boards I am using are not cheap, but I have not wasted a single one so far. I truly believe they have all come out very well.
Zebra Foal II

tiger in progress (close-up)

cheetah in progress (close-up)
The bottom picture shows my progress on the cheetah. She is pretty much done, now I am trying to find reference photos for the cubs since I don't have any of my own. So in the meantime, I started the tiger.

Prints are available for all my finished pieces at Fine Art America.
Looking Up - one of my own cats

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

More Scratchboard

ringtail lemurs - almost finished

cheetah in-progress
I am having so much fun with this scratchboard. I have now done four 5x7s and sold one of them (the zebra foal). The ringtail lemurs above are nearly finished, I am just waiting to get some ink so I can add the black whiskers. For a limited time, I am selling the 5x7s unframed for only $60.

The cheetah to the left is a closeup of my first 8x10 scratchboard. The spots are driving me crazy, but I am happy with how it is coming along.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

New Year, New Medium

Contrary to the title of this post, I do not pick up a new medium every year. However, I do find it fitting to have tried something new at the beginning of the year. I received a scratchboard set for Christmas, and didn't waste any time trying it out. These two images are my first two scratchboard drawings (I'm having a hard time photographing the gorilla, so it's a little washed out).
I have to say, so far I love it! Of course, I'm not giving up my charcoal, by any means, but I like to expand my horizons, too. I look forward to doing more of this.