The New Scratchboard

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Colorado painter, printmaker, and educator Charles Ewing explores art on clay surfaces in The New Scratchboard. Unfired porcelain clay applied in a thin layer to a support gives a surface that is both absorbent and easily scratched. Images are created by applying and removing pigment. Ewing looks at the long history of clay-surface art and describes the nature of clay-coated surfaces. He presents a staggeringly wide range of pigment that media artists can employ on scratchboards, including graphite, colored pencils, charcoal, ink pens, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, oil, etc. Application and removal tools are equally diverse. Chapters about using India ink and color on white clay surfaces include demonstrations and exercises, and Ewing also provides extensive demonstrations of printmaking techniques such as relief, intaglio, and lithography. The book is exhaustively illustrated by a wide range of artists who have exploited the easy versatility the clay surface affords. Ewing's own work portraying horses and animals from the wild on inkboard reflects a mastery of line, form, and rhythm; his black-and-white rendition of four dancing ravens, for example, is simultaneously amusing and realistic. Any artist is sure to find a captivating technique from the wide media illustrated, each with its own unique characteristics. Although saturated with technique, the book celebrates experimentation, which is perhaps best captured in its being "dedicated to those with a 'What if...' curiosity that always prevents them from exactly following a recipe." --Mary Ribesky


From Library Journal
Most of us have done simple scratchboard drawings in grade school. Ewing has taken the concept, invented his own clay surface for it (under the name Claybord), and elevated the method to a sophisticated art form. He begins by outlining the history of the art, from petroglyphs, sgraffito, and scrimshaw to the latest uses of white clay surfaces, acrylics, airbrush, etc. Artists looking for new ways of interpreting their work will be pleased to find this on library shelves. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Artists looking for a fresh approach to their work will enjoy this rich resource offering complete instruction on the dynamic art form known as scratchboard. The book outlines the long history of the art, from petroglyphs, sgraffito, and scrimshaw to the state of the medium today, pointing out new surfaces, tools, and methods. Basic techniques are explored, such as scratching on an ink-blacked surface and applying ink or acrylics on a white clay surface. Other methods are reviewed: airbrush, gouache, watercolor, oils, tempera, and colored pencils.


About the Author
Charles Ewing, the developer of the porcelain clay surface trademarked as "Claybord," exhibits work at galleries in the Southwest. He lives in Colorado.


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Charles Ewing, the developer of the porcelain clay surface trademarked as "Claybord," exhibits work at galleries in the Southwest. He lives in Colorado.


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