3 Owls in progress by Lisa Goesling
Detail of Owl in Lower Left Corner by Lisa Goesling
Detail of Owl at Upper Right Corner by Lisa Goesling
Barry Treu, Director of Exhibitions at Freeport Art Museum, invited me to participate in an upcoming exhibition called ‘Birds’. I don’t typically draw animals but thought, why not give it a shot? I am about halfway there, I have a whole lot of tweaking to do before it is done, but I am enjoying myself. One of the beautiful things about Scratchbords® by Ampersand is the clay and ink background. It allows me to tease out subtle values based on how much pressure I apply to my X-ACTO knife, the harder I scratch into the surface, the whiter the clay appears. I love to push the medium as far as I can, in this case painting small feather shapes in the background introducing varying degrees of black. It is a subtle way to add patterning and interest to the flat surface. I find this a challenging project, both the subject matter and how to take lines and turn them into shapes and detailed textures. I will post the finished piece…soon I hope!