Last update: 11/2/98
This baby mallard started life as a pen and ink done for a newsletter illustration. He was modelled on several different photos. Well, I found the duck charming, stuffed him in the flatfile and would periodically take him out to consider what else I could do with him. It was a nice size - not too large to rework if needed and I like ducks.
When I started playing with Photoshop and scanned images for the web - the duck seemed like a good bet to experiment with. So, I did and was delighted with the result. That image now lives on my business pages.
Then I had a project that really needed a clean black and white image and that pointed to scratchboard. I never do scratchboard in a traditional way, with the standard scratch tools. I have this odd collection of exactos, wire brushes, and the like to play with. Anyway, once I started sketching on the board, I needed a simple real project to get familiar with the behaviour of the board and tools. So, out came the duck again.
And this became a marvelous adventure - I became so wrapped up in the duck that I missed the phone ringing and someone had to literally shake me to get my attention. With the scratchboard, I could render the texture of the duck's down unlike any other medium that I had tried. It was a very intense experience. I spent probably about 6 hours on the duck - more than I had expected, but probably 6 of the best hours I have ever spent doing my art thing.
I now have half a dozen little projects going in scratchboard - mostly sketches/ideas. But this is the way to induce a sort of trance state - a wonderful creative experience - can't get much better than this! And after - I'm pretty calm and can deal with whatever I need to. Much better than most other problem solvers/motivators that I use.
All images on this page are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Please do not steal these images. For information on how to legally use these images, contact: cindy@raenet.com
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Last update: 11/2/98