Lorna Doone - Scottish Highland Cow

"Lorna Doone", 5" x 7" Drawing

Lorna and her sister Mary (as in Queen of Scots) are two wonderful and woolly Scottish Highland Cattle. Their owner invited me over a few years ago to meet them and take photos. They're very sweet girls and I got plenty of great reference photos. I just love the texture of their shaggy coats and I knew they'd be great subjects for art.


Color Reference Photo


Reference Photo - converted to greyscale, contrast tweaked

I decided to do this illustration on Ampersand Scratchbord (formerly Claybord Black). And yes, it's spelled "bord". Scratchbord is a 1/8" thick panel with a smooth clay surface that's pre-coated with black ink. I do 98% of my scratchboard drawings on a white surface on which I paint/draw the black areas where I want them, but some images just cry out for an all black surface. To "draw" on the black surface, I scratch in the lines with an X-acto knife (#16 blade) - basically, I'm drawing white with the knife. I can go back in and ink a few places with black to adjust the contrast or fill in an area, but mostly I just scratch away to expose the white surface under the black coating. I can also "re-scratch" the inked areas to soften the contrast. I did that on parts of the horns and on the darkest areas of Lorna's hair. The solid black background is the original pre-inked surface. On this drawing, I also scratched a very thin line along the edge and added some random scratches for effect.


Detail 1 of "Lorna Doone"


Detail 2 of "Lorna Doone"

I decided not to frame this drawing. I sprayed the surface with Claybord Fixative (seals, protects and removes smudges) and have put a hanger on the back - simple! In trying to find a link to the Fixative, I've discovered it was discontinued in 2007 (obviously, I've had mine for a while) and they're working on a new formulation with UV protection. In the meantime, Ampersand recommends Krylon #1305 or #1309.

I won't be making my own cards or prints of this one - too much black - it'll chew through my printer ink in no time, but you can buy note cards from my Zazzle shop.

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A Nifty New Painting Panel

I learned about these panels from Nancy Holtz, another member of the Auburn Old Town Gallery. She had some paintings on them in the Gallery last year.

Made by Art Boards, they are a natural fiber panel with different painting surfaces adhered to the front. I used the Cold Press Watercolor Panel. There's a bit of texture, but not too much, so the paper works great mixed media pieces like those below. I use ink (a Micron pen) for the darkest areas, then watercolor washes, then I finish up the detail with color pencil (typically Prismacolor).

What's nice about these is they don't need to be framed. I spray the art with a coat of UV resistant spray and that's it. The boards are 1/4" thick and have a slot on the back for hanging. I also tint the panel edges to match the color of the paper next to the edge.

They're a fun way to create a small piece of art. Now that I've done three of these (with 2 more in the works), I'm offering them as an option for commissioned pet portraits. I enjoy working in different styles and mediums and by offering a variety, my clients have more styles and prices to choose from. This "art board style" is a hybrid between my looser "Paintings with Petzazz" watercolor on Yupo pieces and the far more detailed ink on scratchboard or pencil portraits. As you can see from these three paintings, I use vibrant colors. A white dog does not have to be white and grey and a goat does not have to be brown!


"Bailey" - Wheaten Terrier, 4" x 4"


"Goat #1" - 4" x 4"


"Goat #2" - Pygmy Goat, 4" x 4"

You can find Bailey & the two goats on magnets in my Zazzle shop and on note cards in my Bonanzle shop. They're also on all sorts of merchandise (ceramic tiles, mugs, t-shirts, etc.) in my CafePress shop: goats and Bailey.

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