Video: Wildlife using scratchboard technique. Judy Larson painting
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
American Judy Larson is an unusual woman. The biggest passion in her life is wild animals. But the artist doesn't just admire the prairie dwellers: she tirelessly paints them using a little-known and very complex scratchboard technique.
A scratchboard is a sheet of paper or wood board that is covered with a layer of limestone material and covered with a thin layer of ink on top. The artist then uses knives or scrapers to scratch the surface of the scratchboard, creating a pattern of white and black lines. "It's the exact opposite of drawing with a pen," says Judy Larson. "Instead of applying ink, I remove it." The scratchboard technique is quite complicated: it is one thing to apply a smear of paint, quite another to cut this line with a knife. For her work, the artist uses X-Acto knives and hundreds of blades. Sometimes, according to Judy, the blades have to be changed every few minutes because they need to be as sharp as possible to get the perfect pattern.
When the black and white image is ready, Judy adds color to it by filling the white lines with acrylics. The only element of each drawing that becomes colored immediately after scratching is the eyes of the animal. According to the artist, she needs to see this element ready at the very beginning of work, because if the eyes are drawn incorrectly, then there is no point in continuing to work on the drawing at all. “Besides, I prefer the animal to 'look' at me as it goes on,” laughs Judy.
Another feature of Judy Larson's paintings is the so-called "hidden" images. Take a closer look at each picture: a portrait of an Indian is drawn on the buffalo's fur with thin lines, and the spots on the horse's body are made in the form of birds. Such hidden elements are not random drawings. According to the author, they are always part of the story told in a particular image.
“I want to grab the viewer's attention on three levels,” says Judy Larson. “Firstly, by revealing the beauty of animals through intricate details; secondly, by creating a latent image that makes the viewer study the paintings more closely; thirdly, by awakening in people awareness of the need to protect the environment."
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