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

Would you like a free mini-portrait of your pet?

I'm having a little contest right now to give away a 2x2" mini-scratchboard portrait of someone's pet.  I've been playing with 2x2" miniboards recently and having so much fun with them that I thought I'd offer one in a little contest.  I started it on Facebook, so if you're active there please check out my page!

The reason that I do pet portraits is the same reason I got into veterinary medicine - one of the most important things to me is the human-animal bond, in all of it's manifestations.  Pet ownership is just one of those but to me it is the most important because represents such a deep and special relationship, and is one that so many of us have known.  I love hearing about people's pets - with every commissioned portrait I do I get to learn a little bit about the special animal that I'm drawing, and what they mean to their human companions who are requesting the portrait.  I always hope that my finished artwork will be something that people can look at for years to come and instantly relive some small part of the love and companionship they shared - just as I do when I look at the portraits I have of my own pets (of which there have been many), especially those who have passed on.  

And it's also the reason for this contest - I don't have any active commissions right now and this is a sneaky way for me to get a dose of heart-filling stories (always an alterior motive :D).  

2x2" miniboard of my cat Ginger (c) Pam Boutilier

I also know that not everyone is on Facebook, so I'm posting the information here as well:

All you need to do is post a picture of your pet and a short paragraph describing why they are so awesome.  All species are welcome, as are memorial stories if your pet has passed away.  You are welcome to enter more than one pet - but please do an individual post for each one.  You can post on Facebook or right here in the comments section below.

I'm going to randomly draw a name on April 11th and then post the winner both here and on Facebook. as soon as the artwork is completed.  The winner will receive their mini-portrait by mail (that means you'll have to give me a physical mailing address if you win).

Feel free to share this with anyone else that you think may wish to enter!

(And for you cynics out there - this isn't an April fool's thing, I didn't even realize the date until I previewed this post just now! :P)

~ Pam

Progression of a Portrait

I showed a sneak peek of this piece a little while back and today I'd like to share the finished portrait with you - along with a bit of behind-the-scenes of how the it was made.  Say hello to Gracie!

This is a 16x16" portrait of a special doggie-in-law named Gracie.  This is my largest whiteboard to date, and one of the first in my new style.  The style reflects my goal for this year which I think I have condensed down to the word 'Integration'.  In this case integrating the softness and fluidity of a more painterly style (like Charles Ewing uses) with the more finely detailed scratching that I have typically done.

For anyone unfamiliar with the medium of scratchboard the classic board consists of a sturdy masonite backing with a layer of white clay on it, then a very thin layer of black ink on top of the clay.  The scratchboard artist uses various tools - from scalpel blades and exacto knives to steel wool and nail buffer thingies (NBTs... that's the official scratchboarder term for them) - to scrape away the black revealing the white underneath.  

Colour can then be applied to the exposed clay surface if desired, which is exactly what I did with the recently posted 'Schmettermaus' piece.  It started out as a black-and-white scratchboard, and then colour was added.  Typically this involves many layers of re-scratching and recoloring to get tonal variations, like the ones you can see in this detail shot:

Ampersand Claybord(tm) is what I like to refer to as 'whiteboard'.  It's the same as regular scratchboard but does not have the black ink - the surface is white clay, so you apply layers of ink first and then scratch, re-apply, scratch again, etc as needed.  What I've struggled with was combining the fine detail that I love about scratchboard with the more painterly look and freedom that I felt my pieces were sometimes lacking.   

"Petulant" 12x9" (c) Pam Boutilier

The methods I used for pieces like the one above didn't leave me much room for error.  If something was off it was difficult to get the corrected area to perfectly match the initial inking that had been applied in colour blocks.   I ended up using tiny brushstrokes so that I didn't have to deal with the sharp edges the ink tends to form on the board which shifts the work emphasis from the scratching more toward the painting aspect of creation.  My size of work was also limited because every single square inch of these is meticulously brushed and then scratched - the bulldog above is my largest whiteboard prior to Gracie and it is 9x12".

As much as I loved these pieces, I wanted to try something different - I wanted to try working more loosely, to keep the piece fluid as I went.  I didn't want to fear mistakes or be limited in my options for a background.  It started with a sketch, as always, but this time I focused on the areas I intended to highlight with scratching, leaving the rest a bit more vague than I usually would:

And then it was time to start... something new... something different....

I will fully admit to suffering 'blank canvas' anxiety.  I can be as excited as anything to start a new piece, but sometimes faced with a pristine, new board I get nervous... is this idea going to work?  Will I screw it up?  Would a different crop be better - maybe I should play with my sketch a bit more before I transfer it to the board, (etc, etc).  You can imagine where that kind of thinking leads... nowhere at all!  

For some reason it seems that the pieces I can psyche myself out of being stressed about turn out the best, so the day I started this piece I actually tricked myself by using a reclaimed board.  It was a 16x20 black board that I'd started something on that really was not working.  I really wanted to use a square format so I cut the board creating one 16x16" and one 4x16" then sanded both pieces with a palm sander.  It created quite a mess (definitely something you want to do outside), but the surface came out beautifully, just like a brand new whiteboard!  I used the 4x16" piece later to create Intensity and the 16x16" I started something new with.  

 

I transferred my sketch with graphite as I usually do and proceeded to start the colour blocking - but this time I didn't worry about precision.  I told myself this was a reclaimed board and we were going to see just how far we could push it.

I decided to play with some abstract work on the background...

I love making interesting patterns by blowing then blotting ink on the board.  This, however, can lead to lightheadedness and blurred vision - here is the technique.  Use it sparingly!

From initial colour blocking I started scratching detail into the key areas (eye and nose) and layering more ink to get some nice purple shadows in there.

This is followed by scratching and then laying down more ink, building layer after layer.  The intention with this approach to a whiteboard is to keep it loose and fluid, shaping the face and background at the same time - see how I adjusted the nostril position in the image above?  This looseness made the whole process more fun, less stressful and less rigidly tied to the reference photo.  I could get the expression and personality of Gracie to emerge and not feel bound by my initial colour blocking.

More scratching.... more inking...

Here I was playing with her neck (left side of the piece) and the foreground...

At one point I got really frustrated with her neck fur and sanded the board back to white, this allowed me to build up the scratching in the hair again and correct the direction the fur was falling...

One thing I've learned is that if I'm having frustration with white fur it's usually because my values are off.  With smaller pieces I'll often scan them and desaturate the image to check my values - since I was traveling and this is a bigger piece it wasn't so easy - but I finally figured it out and was able to get the neck to a place I was happy with.  And here is the final piece:

Which I am proud to say is completed and sprayed and just waiting to be framed.  I hope you've enjoyed this little mini-tutorial in my newer whiteboard style.  I'd love to know what you think - just leave me note in the comments!

Tigers and temporary studios and starting to think about the new year - oh my!

My first finished board of the new year - "Tiger Eyes"  5x7" Scratchboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier
Thanks to Just Chaos from WetCanvas for the reference image!

Welcome 2014!  I am currently working out of a 'temporary' studio at my in-laws (from Michigan, where it's cold and much very snow!).  I was perusing the recent post of an artist who I admire and who's blog I follow, Ingrid Schmelter - AKA Kastle Kaos, here.  She spoke of her resolutions last year and what she planned for 2014.  One phrase in her blog that really resonated with me was "So this year I need to always make time for the Art First kind of art.  To do the art that I would do if no one is looking, to do the art that I do when I have no other agenda."  Which I misread as First Art.. because the first art all people do is spontaneous art-for-yourself.  There is much to be said about the art you do when no one is looking... whether that art is scratchboard, dancing, singing, writing, or whatever form of creative expression you gravitate to (and if you cannot think of any then your New Year's Resolution for 2014 should be to foster a creative expression, even if you only do it when no one is looking!).  

I hope the in-laws aren't getting sick of me taking over their dining room!

I must admit that year to year I vacillate between making resolutions and eschewing them.  I hold no illusions that promises made to myself on the first day of the Gregorian calendar will magically change any of my habits, but outlining and defining my goals does help give me a structure and a boost of enthusiasm - especially around this time of year when everyone is doing it (and it turns out there may be something to that).  New Years is also a time to reflect, and when I look back at the past year I am nothing short of amazed.  

When 2013 started I had recently met with my acrylics teacher and he helped me take a lifetime of work and distill it down to what was the best... in terms of my own interests, medium, skill, and also marketability.  Seeing my work through his eyes gave me a clarity that I just couldn't get on my own (which is why I blogged a series of articles about it).  So 2013 was really the time to work on this new insight, and I did, but I was also working at my job in veterinary consulting, and we were very, very busy.  It is a relatively left-brained kind of job and it was difficult to switch from that over to the mindset I needed for developing my art further.  I found that when my job was busier it demanded that my linear-sequantial-fact-based processes be at full force, and during those times my art fell back to what I already knew... formulaic, representative to a fault, and stagnant.  

I managed to schedule some chunks of time, two or three days in a row of studio time spent in an actual studio (I traded studio hours for teaching a couple of youth classes in scratchboard).  One of those days I had a breakthrough - I started doing a portrait in a way that married my desire for detail and realism with some degree of abstraction and looseness.  This is what I've been referring to as my 'new style'.

Initial sketch for 'Gracie'

First layer of ink for 'Gracie'
(more to follow!)

Then change came.  In the middle of the year, for numerous circumstantial reasons my husband and I moved from Ontario, Canada to the Caribbean.  Even more unforeseen was that due to complex legalities I was unable to keep my consulting job.  So for the past few months I have found myself 'unemployed', or as I prefer to call it 'a full time artist'.

I've struggled since around 2008 with what it means to me to be an artist.  Fall of 2008 was the point at which I was first able to actually call myself "an artist" (you know, to other people), and this was about 6 months after my 'rediscovery' of my right brain's skills at drawing.  I have always wanted to sell my art, and I'm not exactly sure why.  Validation?  To avoid accumulating a pile of my own work?  My love of sharing in the human-animal bond through pet portriats? An excuse to spend more time on my art?  A way to avoid blank-canvas syndrome by taking commissions?  Whatever the reason (and it's likely a combination of all of those and more) it was the original inspiration for starting Cat-in-a-Box Studio.

Since the beginning of 2008 when I wrote that blog post I have been more mindful of my right-left brain functions.  Who I'm favoring, who I'm listening to, and most importantly - who I'm using more for certain tasks.  Since rediscovering my art I have been terrified of losing it again.   I spoke way back then about 'waking the sleeping dragon'.  A dragon that I finally realized is intrinsically tied to my own vitality.  A dragon that is fragile enough to wither and die if it is stuffed into a cage again with no light or nurturing.  It feels like if I let myself go back to an overwhelmingly left-brained existence it would be like chaining this guy back up in the Gringott's vault:

(c) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Having the past few months to do art full time you'd expect that I would have a mountain of things produced wouldn't you?  I certainly did.  But I was wrong.  For some reason the going is slow, and for reasons (likely the same ones that got me through vet school) I am frustrated and expect more from my dragon than it is giving.  I want to yell at it and force it to work harder.  I look nervously at what seems like a paltry amount of finished new work, miniscule movements toward developing my art further, and I feel the urge to push the dragon harder.  The whispered criticism.. "this is not good enough".

I should clarify... part of me feels that way, the other part of me is excited just to see the dragon at play.  This other part is like a nurturing mother who sees a deprived and atrophied dragon who will take some time to reach full magnificence, but who has the potential to be awe-inspiring and beautiful if given enough time and space and sunlight.  This is where I think of Ingrid's words "the art that I would do if no one is looking".  This includes art that is crappy (mistakes are important as every inspiring commencement speech that I love will tell you), art that is banal (sometimes the best work to help me hone my basic skills and identify flaws in my technique), art that is my 'old stuff' (because even if my style changes, my older styles are a part of me as an artist and part of my development).  This also includes art that is new, dynamic and beautiful.  The more I think about my agenda (specifically the need to make money from my art) the more I fall into the traps of caution and perfectionism.  Not that having an agenda is bad, but I think every artist who chooses to try to make a living from their work has to remain cognizant of how much that desire is impacting what they do.   They need to never stop making what I'll evermore think of now as 'First Art'.

So I will continue to ruminate on 2013 and what my goals are going to be for this new year.  I think I'll lean on the eastern side of my psyche and use the Chinese New Year as a deadline to set my goals and aspirations for 2014.  This year it falls on Jan 31st, and it will be the Year of the Horse... which is cool, because I just happen to have piece in progress that is a horse!  So anyone who wishes to make New Year's goals but missed the Jan 1st deadline can join me then!

Cheers!

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

A moment of soul-baring

So much has changed recently.  For some reason blogging about all of these things - moving, job changes, etc - just doesn't feel right.  What does feel right is that as a result of all of these changes I find myself sitting outside sipping coffee and looking out across a Caribbean landscape.  I find myself with what I've always wanted, more time to devote to my art, and with that comes a weird kind of pressure and an even weirder kind of mental 'push back'.  

 Quickie sketch of how I'm feeling - not how I look, just how I feel!

Faced with the freedom to develop my art career my Left brain starts in on me, telling me what kind of art I should be doing, how many hours I should do it, how I should feel while I'm doing it.  As much progress as I've made in the past years to stop self-identifying with my L-brain voice (or 'chair-voice' as I like to call it, because.. reasons) it's still present and in times of stress or change it's hard to not listen to it. 

'If you're going to call yourself an artist every drawing or painting you do should be beautiful'

'People don't get to do art as a career, there's too much competition out there, you aren't good enough'

'If you are getting to do all of this art you should enjoy it, every minute of every day, if you don't love every minute you're not a real artist'

'You should do art of things people want to buy, but not anything that's already out there because that's just derivative'

'Did I mention that you're not good enough - your art is (insert contradictory critiques here - not spontaneous enough, not planned enough, too subtle, not subtle enough, too unusual, too mainstream)'

You see, chair-voice is insane.  Its arguments are usually contradictory and always stressful.  So why do I even listen?  Well one thing I do know is the most sure-fire way to shut chair-voice up (and all the voices in my head) is to do art... that's part of why I love it.  And yet if chair-voice gets a good grip on my mind it can be hard to shut it out.  It's also good at coming up with self-preserving excuses to not work on art, usually in the form of 'Oh, you should update that thing on your website... it would be really good to make a list of your art inventory... you should look for websites on art pricing and time management and....'

And on it goes. 

This morning I was reading the blog of an artist I greatly admire, Tina Mammoser, and she was talking about 'morning pages'.  You know, first thing in the morning writers should have a notebook on their bedside table and write in it, people should jot down whatever is on their mind or they are inspired to write... something, anything.  For an artist it can be an exercise in just getting some drawing done every day - which is so important, and yet during times of stress or distraction can get skipped.  

After reading her post and thinking 'well, what would I sketch if I were to draw something right now' the first thought that popped into my head was 'a blossom'!  You see the beauty of where I'm living now is that there is beauty everywhere... you can't walk down a street without glimpsing the most gorgeous blossoms, and that's without even looking a the ocean or mountains.  I turned a deaf ear to chair voice, who had many other ideas about what I should do with the rest of my morning, and grabbed my cheapo sketchbook.  I went out in the front yard and said 'hi' to the big Caribbean caterpillar on our tree and plucked a blossom from one of the shrubs.  Without any particular goal or censure I just started sketching... 

I started by just drawing one petal - chair-voice was yelling at me to draw the whole thing and draw it well, and simultaneously reminding me that I don't draw flowers and it will probably turn out ugly.  So to combat the self-doubt that was stalling me I decided to just sketch one petal.  As so often happens I became completely engrossed in my blossom - the shapes and curves of the petals, the construction of the stalk, the play of the colours and sure enough I couldn't stop and had to draw the whole thing from a different angle. An hour of art (and some coffee) later and I feel so much better about everything!

I'm not going to commit to doing morning pages every morning, or schedule a specific time or a certain duration of minutes or hours I'll spend doing this - those all sound like suspiciously chair-voice types of things.  Instead I will just remember how good sketching makes me feel, and on those days when chair-voice is particularly strong I may start by just drawing a doodle, or a part of something.  And when I feel myself failing I'll just visit Tina's blog again!

Desktopper Contest WINNER for JUNE!

Better late than never, right?

The studio is currently 1/3 in the new place, 1/3 here and 1/3 in the truck (I'm taking a load over this afternoon). So instead I went to a local coffee shop today to finish off the piece!

"Who Me?"

The winner for June is Red, an English Cocker Spaniel owned by a fellow artist Karen Hendrickson. Red was actually the first entry I received - and his solemn, wise eyes caught my attention immediately. The title of this piece (chosen by Karen) is 'Who me?'. She said that Red can't jump on the counter anymore so he used the chair. She had just asked him 'What do you think you're doing?' when the reference photo was snapped, and his response is perfectly clear!

This is what Karen told me about Red:

This is Red, my heart dog. He has a recurrence of anal gland adenocarcinoma with mets to his lungs. He's 12 years old and I'll say goodbye when he no longer feels he's invincible.

Well he sure looks like he's enjoying his senior years! Congratulations Karen and thank you for giving me the opportunity to get to know Red in a small way!

Because this move is a bigger disruption than I had anticipated, not helped at all by getting sick in June, I am going to make a small one-time change to the Desktopper contest and thereby hopefully preserve the tiny bit of sanity I was allotted in life. There will be no drawing for July, and instead I will draw TWO in August (to be posted Sept. 1st). The deadline is August 20th and you have double the chance of winning.

I've also decided that I like all the entry photos so much I'm just going to keep them in the 'hat' and carry them over month to month (and I apologize if I've already announced that... getting old and senile you know). So if you've entered previously you are still in the running! You are welcome to enter another pet though (one pet photo and description is considered one entry). If for any reason you don't want to be kept in the running then just send me an email and I'll remove your entry, no questions asked!

So jump on in and enter for August's draw! And once the studio is all moved and settled I do have some things I'll be blogging about. Until then...

~ Pam

Desktopper Contest WINNER!

First - thanks to everyone who entered the May contest!

Second - I'd like to happily announce the winner (by random draw) of my first Destopper Pet Portrait contest....*drumroll*.... Bailey!



Bailey Page is an adorable boy owned by Jon. Jon actually found my little contest in his endless search for things to enter - be sure to check out his website, it's highly entertaining!

According to Jon, they rescued Bailey from a shelter where he was slated to be euthanized. Here's what Jon has to say about his friend:

"My wife and I are convinced that he is a person trapped inside of a pup's body. In addition to his many outstanding qualities, such as destroying couches, we love his most obvious physical characteristic: his right-ear-up, left-ear-down combination."

I love it too - Bailey was a joy to paint, his personality just shines through!

Now since by the time I got my website updated and the blog posted last month there wasn't much space before the deadline, so I am going to carry the May entries over to June (you know who you are!).

And for anyone who didn't enter - now's the time, you have until June 20th! All you have to do is send an email to me with a few lines describing your pet and a photograph. The drawing is random and the next winner will be announced July 1st! Full details are on my website here.

(Hey, I think I can count Bailey in my 100 dogs challenge too!! Yay!)

Desktopper Pet Portrait Contest!

Who:

Anyone can enter. You can enter once per month.

What:

The prize will be a free 5x7" ink painting of your pet based on the photo you submit. These smaller works fit into any standard 5x7" frame or mat and are the perfect size to sit on your desk!

When:

Once a month, every month, starting immediately! The deadline is the 20th of the month and the winner will be announced by the last day of the month.

The first deadline is May 20, 2010!

Where:

To enter just send an email to pam@catinaboxstudio.com or via my website contact sheet here. Include a digital photo of your pet and a short (like three lines) biography of your pet. If you have more than one photo you wish to send, go right ahead (but indicate which is your favorite!). If you don't have a digital photo then just send an email with the name and biography and I'll let you know where you can mail a real photo (don't worry, any real media images will be returned to you).

Why:

Why not? Truly, it's a fun way for me to drum up some interest in my website. It's also fun to have a little deadline to keep me on track!

And most of all, the whole reason I do pet portraits is based in my love of the human-animal bond. I find it so much more inspiring when I know the name and the 'story' behind the animal I'm painting. This contest is a way for me to get all kinds of wonderful stories!

Wait.. what else is there to this??:

Nothing! You don't have to subscribe to my newsletter or blog, you won't go on a mailing list, you will retain all copyrights to the photos you send and your information will not be given to anyone.

Now of course I'd like you to follow my newsletter or blog and tell all your friends to do so as well - but I don't care as much about numbers as having people who enjoy following my work involved, so this is really a means to try to get people to take a peek and then they can decide if they want to see more!

MWF seeking Muse

I've been feeling uninspired recently... not that I lack ideas, I'm just having difficulty executing them. Or perhaps I'm not working them out well enough in my head... when I start to get them on paper or board I realize it's the same old thing I always do. I'm not sure what I'm trying to achieve, nor am I completely sure I've not just been spending too much time in my left brain recently. But whatever the reason I need to step back a little bit.

Cats and dogs are my passion - which is why I do pet portraits I guess. I love to use my art to celebrate the bond we share with them, but they are also such beautiful creatures in their own right. However lately my in-progress portraits seem dull and uninspired to me. They say when you get stuck in an art rut it's a good idea to break out of your 'normal' - a new subject, new medium, anything that is unfamiliar territory. So that's what I'm doing a bit of right now. Last night I took some scraps of watercolour paper and my precut ACEO cards and just dabbled. Here's what came of it...

Reeds... I mixed three colours, a mossy green, burgundy, and brown and just played with them a little.

"Reeds 1" 4x6" ink on watercolor paper

"Reeds 2" 5x7" ink on watercolor paper

Back in the day I used to do a lot of fantasy - I still have some older work on my elfwood site (http://www.elfwood.com/~pamela). If one does fantasy one must do dragons, and a very fun twist on them are minidragons (varying degrees of mini, but anything from the size of a butterfly to the size of a bird). A fun thing to do with ACEOs is making something life-sized on them - so this is a life-sized minidragon (the finger is to scale):

ACEO minidragon (ink on matboard, 2.5 x 3.5")

I don't know how long these utterly random posts will continue - but I hope you enjoy the tangent while I'm on it. Now where did that muse get to...?

100 Dogs Challenge #13 - Schnauzer take II

This time in colour....

Schnauzer Study, 4.5x 5.5" Ink/Watercolour paper

100 Dogs Challenge #8 - Little Frenchie

French bulldogs are the breed of the month on WetCanvas for February - this little guy was so cute he prompted me to try something I've been thinking of but haven't done, painting with my Ampersand inks on paper (*gasp*).


This is ACEO size (2.5 x 3.5) on archival matboard. He was tremendously fun to do, though I have to get used to the different feel on paper compared to Claybord.

Thanks for peeking!

~ Pam

You want to use *this* Pillow?

So one of the things most voted for was more works-in-progress! Here ya go!

This is from a photo out of the reference library on WetCanvas, I loved the expression and was excited about the challenge of doing the pillow/blanket.

As always it started with a sketch...


And the sketch was transferred to the board with graphite (I still prefer using a graphite stick directly to the back of my sketch for transferring rather than transfer or graphite paper, it just works best for me).

Stage 1 (underpainting):
This one is a whiteboard so rather than get right into the scratching it starts with a painting in ink. The biggest thing I learned about whiteboard underpaintings is to go much darker than I think - remember, from here on it's going to be taking ink off and re-applying it, but more always goes than what gets put back!


Stage 2 (first scratching):
I always feel like 'why did I bother putting this ink on' and from a distance it looks like I'm scratching it all off, but if you look at the close-up shots of the final piece you will see the incredible amount of depth and colour variation this technique gives - it means many more hours of work on the image, but the end result is well worth it!


I couldn't resist working on those limpid eyes...

You can see how pale this is now - it leaves the deepest colours still dark but more ink will be needed on the mid-tones.

Stage 3 (re-inking):
Here comes that depth - the goal in this stage is to use colours with values slightly different (ie lighter or darker) than the background. If I use the same colour I will actually cancel out any scratches I've made, but if my ink is a little bit lighter I will dampen the contrast to get a more natural look and I can use subsequent layers of ink and scratching to get the feeling of a thick, deep coat.


And you can spot the oopsie... on the left side of the nose (our right) there's a dark little spot - that is actually a small ding to the clay. It might have happened when the clay was wet after a wash of ink as it is very sensitive during that time. Here I've inked it and will use layers of ink and scratching to try to cover that defect. Yes, this made me very sad and I blame the fat cat for it.



Stage 4+ (more scratching):
There are actually multiple stages in here of scratching areas, re-inking to keep my values where I want them, scratching more for texture, and so on. You can see that my extensive medical attention to the nose blemish was successful!


This is also where I went to town on the pillow - I wanted it to look like flannel (what could be more cozy than a labrador on a flannel pillow?). I have fibreglass brushes in two sizes that help me achieve the soft, knobbly look here.

After this there are more hours of tweaking - inking, letting it dry, rescratching, re-inking. There is usually a point where either I've reached a deadline or the painting just says 'stop'. That is when I know I'm done and we're ready for framing. My absolute favorite bit which I save for last is the whiskers! That and a signature and....

..the finished product!

'You want to use *this* pillow?'
6x6 Whiteboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier

Detail shots (larger than life-size):






This one is available for sale ($250.00, includes basic frame matted to 12x12"). It is not yet uploaded to the website (quick note, the website is currently under construction getting a bit of an update) but if you are interested just email me at pam@catinaboxstudio.com!

As always - if you're interested in a commissioned pet portrait send me an email or give me a call (I have a brochure in PDF form for anyone who wants more detail on ordering a commission).

And as always, thank you for stopping by and peeking at my blog!!

(PS - so does this one qualify as dog #8 in the 100 dogs challenge?)

100 Dogs Challenge - #6 (and #7)

This is a quick ink sketch/painting I did this evening. It's in my wee sketchbook which is not at all the appropriate paper for ink washes, but I felt like just doing something 'quick and dirty' (the scratchboard is not being my friend tonight).

Next time I get the urge I promise I'll go dig out my watercolour paper :)
(And I'll actually work on getting accurate colours instead of having fun with ink mixing)

'Roughly Buffy' 5x7"

And sick of the brush I kept doodling with a ballpoint pen and lo, sketch #7 happened:

'Gromit' 5x7"

Remember one of the stipulations of the 100 dog challenge is that I post 'em all - even the rough ones!!

~ Pam

Another Whiteboard - Nessie

In this post I'd like to share with you my second full whiteboard. The Rosie board went so well that I think I'm addicted now! But they are a time-consuming art form - so in the process of doing Nessie I also worked on a couple of black and white scratchboards.

Nessie is one of our cats - a little tiny lilac point siamese with a very big mouth. She is all demure and dainty until she gets her panties in a knot at 2am and decides to announce her opinions to the household. Sleeping is her favorite pastime (though that could be said of most cats, I guess), and I am convinced that this feline would be very happy if her little paws never tread upon anything that wasn't a human body (seriously, you can't sit more than 5 minutes in one place without this cat clambering onto your person).

I chose this reference photo because of the peaceful expression (she really is rather lovely when she's not talking) and the dramatic light. I have a thing for the effect of a backlit cat ear - you get to see just how thin that skin is, and the delicate outline of light reflecting off the tiny, fine hairs of the ear margin.

This image is a bit washed out -I purposely decreased the contrast and increased the light so I could see the direction of hairs and small details in the darker areas (my reference shots always undergo some photoshopping before they are appropriate to use for scratchboard).

This piece will be done on a 6x6" Whiteboard with Ampersand inks. The preliminary sketch is transferred onto the whiteboard with graphite (basically I use a graphite stick to cover the entire backside of the sketch in my sketchbook, then retrace the lines with the page laying over the whiteboard). The first inking I do is the background - you can see my graphite guidelines from the preliminary sketch. It takes several layers of ink to get a nice, deep background color - this one is using alternating layers of black and sepia ink:


And continuing with the base painting (The scanner made this image warmer than it truly appears, but it gives you an idea). I've exaggerated the light in her left ear, it will get toned down as this continues and I want to preserve that look of translucency and backlighting:

And now the scratching! The repeated layers of scratching and re-inking is what gives us more depth. In the next series of images you can see how I start by scratching in the darkest areas, re-inking them (though hard to see on a small scan this leaves beautiful, subtle texture in the shadowed parts), and then scratching the medium-value areas, and so on.




Some detail shots (larger than life):



And here is the final portrait:

"Nessie" 6x6" Ampersand whiteboard, scratchart and ink (c) Pam Boutilier, 2009

Thanks for checking in!