Art hunting for wolves: gratography by Cristina Penecu

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

If you ask an artist what new he has created, and he will answer: "Yes, so, scribbled something" - know that before you is a person who is not by hearsay familiar with the technique of gratography, or gratting. Both terms go back to the French word for "scratch, scratch". California-based self-taught artist Cristina Penescu creates stunning work using this technique. Her portraits of wolves are another example of hyperrealism in art.

Cristina Penescu, 23, was born in Romania, but has lived in the United States for as long as she can remember. As a child, she was instilled in her love for wildlife. And when the girl became interested in the fine arts, then, quite logically, she began to draw wild animals and domestic animals. Since then, the young artist has had many experiments with styles and techniques, and only recently Cristina Penescu seems to have found her own style.

Cristina Penescu has no art education, she mastered all the techniques on her own. But not a single diploma, as they say. Wolves, in any case, the artist makes very convincing. Wildlife (and wolf themes in particular) occupies a significant place in the author's portfolio. These animals somehow won the heart of Cristina Penescu as a child.

The main feature of a wolf in mythology is its alienness. The task of Cristina Penescu is to turn the gray beast from a stranger into her own, to make him closer to people. She tries to achieve this by resorting to a hyperrealistic image. Everything in nature is perfect, and all that remains for the artist to do is to see and convey this perfection as accurately as possible.

Now Cristina Penescu loves acrylic painting and gratography most of all. The latter will be discussed further. This technique makes it possible to scratch out the details so that the image turns out as if it were alive and the viewer could consider every hair of the animal and fall in love with it as the American artist of Romanian descent loves her shaggy heroes.

An even layer of white clay is applied to the pressed cardboard, which is covered with black ink. With the help of a sharp knife, the artist scratches out many lines in the picture. One image is thousands of such strokes. After the lines have been scratched, Cristina Penescu often applies another thin layer of ink to the "wounded" surface - and again takes up the knife. Thus, it is possible to achieve halftones and increase the realism of the work.

Sometimes the artist paints the resulting pictures, and in the color illustrations it is already very difficult to discern hints of the scratching technique.