Sgraffito

This is my second attempt at sgraffito. It is kind of different from the first attempt that I made in that the entire time I was doing the first piece I was laughing most of the time. . I had wanted to do this for years and I began by ordering some used dental picks to scratch through the colored pencil image. It was not a complex image, just something I enjoy drawing, flowers. The sun and flowers are stylized and the composition is very simple. I decided that once I learned to do it I would try something more difficult. I found that dental tools don't work especially well but that an X-acto #11 blade does. So this is my second attempt and though I enjoyed the colored pencil drawing, the sgraffito technique did not work especially well on the back of matboard. My next attempt will be to use the dental tools on scratchboard. We'll see how that goes.
     I went to a shop on Friday to demonstrate my watercolors. I  spent three and a half hours working on one of my little inspirational drawings that was done in pen and ink and then painted with watercolor. The time spent was very exciting even though there was not  much interest. I was using a Kolinsky sable brush that I have had for years but I am not especially fond of. My other sable brush was forgotten in the rush to get out of the house. The Kolinsky showed me how to use it by trial and error. It is great for fine detail but not broad strokes. It is not stiff enough. I do these demonstrations once a month and I am beginning to really enjoy them. I never thought that I would get to the point where I would be able to block out the people around me but this proved to be quite easy. The Kolinsky brushes unwieldiness proved to be just the ticket... Well, I am sorry that I have not posted much lately. There has just been no time. Hopefully things will open up soon. God bless you for reading my posts. Dale.