More scratch art work inspired by a class I took at Woodmere Art Museum in spring 2021. Look here for the first post, which explains the origins of this inspiration and some general background on the medium.
This photo is taken from the flood plain as seen from the Pennypack Rail Trail near the Wlesh Road parking lot, back when there was a little snow still on the ground.
I am medium pleased with this image. On its own it has a certain look of stark snow cold and spiky trees that I like. But, once again, I planned in my mind for a pen drawing and then set to work on scratch board. This time I could not find the balance of mark-making that would let me have areas of black/white in pretty equal balance.
The reason that this happened was…I love making marks on the board. I like the way it feels, I like the meditative process of making small scratches, and I like playing around with different marks.
That is all well and good except for when you realize you have marked and scratched your way into a total white expanse where you did not mean to.
Note to self: Contain your enthusiasm. You do not have to alter every single inch of the board. No matter how much fun it is to scratch and scrape and….
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
Well, it’s the process that counts right?
Sometimes you just throw out the results and tray again somewhere new. This is one of those pieces.
I could look at scratch art all day, just awesome! If I were do 2D art, I think I’d want to learn to do scratch art, it does look meditative!
It’s really easy. I encourage you to try it. The tools are not expensive and you can buy a set; the scratchboard is also not expensive and available online. No matter what the result is, the process is really a nice one.
I actually really like the effect of the contrast between the deep black and the stark white. It definitely creates the feel of a winter nightscape.
Thank you. It’s hard to see in the photo but in real life the white part is scratched so hard I revealed the masonite below in a few spots. That is over aggressive removal of the ink all right and not what I meant. But…as I look at this one again, with the passage of some time, I am happier with it, and can see it as its own composition instead of one that did not behave as I wanted!
There is a type of scratchboard that you can paint on beforehand and you can always play around to add paint afterwards. I like this piece as it is myself though.
I always leave my work untouched for a week before I abandon them altogether. That way you get to see it with fresh eyes.
Thank you. I’ve made projects with white clayboard that I painted, in the past, and then scratched or scraped. But I always come back to black and white, I think.
Yes me too. It’s a refreshing change from ink pen sketching for me and it takes me less time than lino but can yield similar results. So I must do more soon.
I will dig out my post on scraperboard as I call it from my old site and hopefully transfer it to my new one along with all a few more on other media soon. That’s the nice thing about art for me… Everyone has their own style and way of doing things. So I always encourage people to look at many sites for inspiration to get what they need for anything their doing or planning to do.
I love the look! I too would probably go overboard with scratching!
The way the scratchboard feels as you work with the tools is really addicting and calming, too. I think that is why I want to keep scratching even when I should stop.
It has a good balance of light and dark I think. (K)
Thank you. I would have liked a better transition between the two halves of the picture (light and dark sections). I feel it is a bit more abrupt that I would want. Also, in the photo you can’t see it so much but I scratched so hard I made my way down to the masonite base in a couple of places. Oops. Need to let up a little!
It would make for an interesting texture anyway.