ISSA Third Annual Scratchboard show

Hello folks!

I'm sorry my posts have been few and far between recently - I've been doing some veterinary teaching which has had to take priority in the past few weeks.  Fear not, I will be spending more time on my art and sharing some stuff with you in June and August.

For now though I wanted to show you a couple my most recently finished pieces.  These two scratchboards were accepted into the annual show for the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) of which I am proud to be a signature member.

The show is going to be held this year at the Page-Walker Arts & History Center in Cary, North Carolina.  It is an amazing show - featuring the best of the best in scratchboard art.  For those of you who are going to be in the area the end of June I highly recommend you check it out - there is nothing like seeing these works in person!  And for any of you who are artists, there are fabulous workshops held in association with the show (check out the ISSA website for more details). 

(c) Pam Boutilier "Winter Cherries" 6x12" Claybord/Ink

The two pieces that I will have showing are both going to be available for sale.  "Winter Cherries" is a particularly meaningful piece for me that took me close to a year to complete.  I almost abandoned it several times but the guidance of a great mentor of mine, acrylic painter Martin Pryce, helped me hang on and see it through.  And you know what - I am so pleased with how it turned out.  I think this piece really shows some of the amazing things that scratchboard/whiteboard as a medium can do!

Here's a larger-than-life detail shot

The other piece that was accepted is 'Savannah Dreams' - this one also was a long time in the making.  That was mostly because I had created the warm abstract background when experimenting with my Claybords a couple of years ago, but for some time I couldn't find what art I wanted to put on the board.  I found the background so fascinating by itself I wanted to find a subject that would harmonize with it, but also that would not be overpowered by the background or compete with it.    I found myself looking at a photo of a lion I'd taken at the Toronto Zoo back in 2012 and suddenly it clicked - the angle and direction of the lion would work perfectly with the gradient of the background (at which point I was referring to that board as my 'leather background' because it reminded me of an old, beaten up leather trunk).  This lion is interesting because he does not grow a mane - so if you thought he was a lioness it is quite understandable!

I worked the lion in black and white and honestly didn't decide if/how much I was going to colour him until all the scratching was done.  Ultimately I decided to go with only a subtle wash of colour, leaving him somewhat stark compared to the background.

(c) Pam Boutilier "Savannah Dreams" 9x12" Claybord/ink

All the time I was working on this I kept thinking of him on his rock in the zoo, gazing over his rather limited domain in the middle of Canada, in the middle of winter.  My mind was filled with the contrast of his life compared to his heritage, which made me wonder whether his soul might ever dream of the dusty, warm, sun-drenched savannah.... hence 'Savannah Dreams' as the title.  That contrast, between his current life and his ancestry, also made me decide to leave him as a more stark black and white relative to the soft warmth of the background.

As an added bonus I will also give you a link to my timelapse 'speed scratch' on this one.  Now this was intended only as a practice run, so please keep that in mind when watching it.  I love speed-draw/paint/etc videos and have always wanted to do some of my scratchboards but I didn't know anything about the equipment, set-up or process.  This was a great learning experience and the next one that I do will have much better camera positioning, lighting, and so forth.  

Both of these pieces really gave me an opportunity to watch how the mental and emotional process I go through while creating a piece of art informs the decisions I make with it all along the way.  To a large degree you have control over what you're doing - but it's almost like you are the head of a committee rather than a dictator... you have to listen to input from the materials, your environment, your muse, and take those and incorporate them into the work as you go.  I have never been as happy with a piece that I planned and executed exactly according to plan as I have with a piece that I've allowed to grow and develop organically as I worked on it.

So there's the art, and be sure to check out the show if you get a chance!

~ Pam

Two new pieces - Schmettermaus and Lil' Abby

I feel like I'm on a roll.  I have two new finished pieces to show;

The first I revealed the other day on Facebook, it is called Die Schmettermaus.  This little guy is related to Die Flittermas, however you may notice that his wings are more butterfly-like than fairy-like.  I think he's a different species, though there are very few mystic ethologists in Germany's Black Forest so the literature on these guys is scarce.

Die Schmettermaus, 5x7" Scratchboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier

The other piece is called 'Lil' Abby'.  This is a gorgeous little abyssinian kitten based on a reference photo from WetCanvas's RIL contributor Sweet Huia.  I started this little gal a LONG time ago and lost my way with her a bit.  Bringing her out recently for a fresh reboot I softened the shadow under her, added the soft green behind her to let me put in whiskers, a bit of tinkering in other spots and voila!  She looks so much better.

Lil' Abby, 9x12" whiteboard/ink (c) Pam Boutilier 

So the year continues at an encouraging pace!  Next I'll show you the start to finish progress of one of my largest colour pieces to date.  Stay tuned!

Works (actually) in progress

I like the term 'work in progress'.  Perhaps I like it a bit too much because it can be used as a general term that essentially means 'work that isn't finished but I do intend to finish it...'.  Of course nowhere is it stipulated exactly when... which is where my procrastinatorial tendencies come out.

Well here's a quick shot of WIPs that I actually worked on today... the kitten is close to completion and the other two are ready for ink (which will hopefully arrive tomorrow with my Blick's order).

So after a few weeks of complete and utter inefficiency it seems that I might be back in the swing of things.  Finishing older works as well as a couple of new ones are my priorities for the next month or so. 

I also have another piece that I'm excited to show you - I had to keep it under wraps (quite literally) up to this point as it was a Christmas gift.   Due to Circumstances I decided to fall back on satisfying two of Neil Gaiman's three rules... I'm easy to get along with and my work is good, but in this instance it wasn't on time.

Speaking of which, if you have not seen Neil Gaiman's commencement speech from 2012 you absolutely should watch it!

To be fair, this piece was a gift for the in-laws and working on it covertly while they were visiting over the holidays was just too difficult.  They are cool with it being finished in the next couple of weeks, so I'll post a WIP image of that one here very soon.

Happy New Year and cheers to all!  Here's to getting a good start to the year!

~ Pb

Happiest Holidays!

Have I truly not posted for a whole month?  I hope everyone has had a fabulous holiday season!

I have been putting most of my energy into my Facebook page lately, which has left le blog a bit neglected (I seem to only be able to juggle so many social media things at a time...  *sigh*).  On Facebook I had a little contest over Christmas.  If you'd like to see the tales of people's treasured friends that were shared with me, be sure to check out my Facebook page. The winner of the contest (by random draw) received a digital painting of her dearly departed friend Rex, showing here;

Which is not showing up properly here - I'll try to re-upload it later, but you get the gist of it

I have several works closing in on completion and one new one getting started right now, so I thought I'd give you sneak peaks of them....

A long overdue portrait that is in my 'new' style of whiteboard - I'm really excited about how this one is progressing!

A little demo piece that is 95% scratched but only about 10% coloured so far.

Another portrait, also in my 'new' style and the biggest colour piece I've done to date, very close to completion.

A brand new portrait getting started, this is a portion of one of several quick digital thumbnail sketches I did for the client.

Another little demo piece, can you guess which of my other works this one is related to?

This is probably the most difficult piece I'm working on right now (and the slowest to progress), but one that has very special meaning to me so I want to get it just right. 

Over the next month these are my top priority pieces.  As they are completed I'll post them here with some discussion and work-in-progress shots where available. 

I recently found out I'll be doing some traveling in the next few weeks, which means 1) I get to experience winter this year after all (with all the mixed emotions that brings... I've been adjusting very well to 27 degrees (celcius, which is high 80's F) weather in December thank you very much!) and 2) I will be able to take these WIPs with me and see how much I can get done without the distractions of a home studio (which seriously could go either way).