The International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA) is launched!!

A few days ago, after many months of hard, behind the scenes work, we now have a society to represent scratchboard artists all over the world. We are taking members at ‘associate’ (open to all) and ‘active’ (juried) levels now, and in March of every year current ‘active’ members may choose to apply for ‘signature’ or ‘master’ levels. All information you need about the membership levels, goals of ISSA and other information about scratchboard are on our website at www.scratchboardsociety.com

Happy scratching!!

“The Lifeblood of Etosha”, More Zebras

I have a new zebra scratchboard from my time at Etosha National Park in Namibia. The last one was a commission so I don’t have it anymore but it seemed to be quite popular with people on the internet that I wanted to do another similar one, although with a different composition, and keep hold of it to enter into shows. This is larger at 20″ x 16″ and took a long time to finish. It’s done entirely with the fibreglass brush and washes of diluted ink.

I’ve titled it “The Lifeblood of Etosha”, referring to the permanent waterhole they are drinking at, and also the zebras themselves which keep the tourists coming back, keeping Etosha a viable and magnificent park.

Wall of Stripes

Here’s a commission I’ve recently finished. It’s from some of my references when I was in Etosha National Park a couple of years ago. This particular waterhole, the famous Okaukuejo in Namibia, is permanent and that’s like gold in a dry park such as Etosha. Thus you don’t have to try hard at all to get great shots of animals in huge numbers coming to drink. In fact, they even built an ampitheatre of viewing seats around the hole and they light it up at night. It kind of annoys me, kind of gladdens me. Annoys in the fact that people like me who are prepared to work for their experiences see other people who can get the same viewing experince without raising a sweat at all. However, it gladdens me in the fact that these very people get to experience animals in such an environment and their lives must be richer for the experience, and they must surely become more educated in the need to look after these last remaining wildlife havens. However, it does it feel a bit unreal, sitting there with a few hundred people in comfort looking over a fence at life at its toughest for the animals, seeing a giraffe take two hours to walk one hundred metres, constantly checking for predators along the way, hearing lions roaring in the distance whilst sitting next to people drinking chilled wine with their attention on their latest gadgets. Still, not far from here it is dry and barren and as a result, you can get away from the throngs instantly because the heat keeps most people under the verandahs.

This is a scratchboard, 11″ x 14″ . I call it “Wall for Stripes” for obvious reasons. Zebras are great for the artist in that they present us with fabulous compositional opportunities and potential for drama. The main problem is keeping your eyes from going crossed as you work out where to put all the stripes! I’ve tried hard to show the hot African sun on the backs of the zebras, hopefully giving you the feeling of actually being there watching it all unfold.

White-Browed Sparrow-Weavers over Victoria Falls

I don’t tend to do landscapes so much but I thought I really should try and push myself a little more in that direction, still with wildlife at the heart of what I do. In 2009 I was in Zimbabwe and Zambia where I saw the falls and these lovely birds. I’ve tried to show the lushness of Victoria Falls, a magnificent icon of Africa, with a hint of a rainbow, juxtaposed against the harshness of the tough life of the inhabitants, represented by the weavers’ natural habitat, this thornbush. It’s scratchboard coloured with Mastisse inks, 11″ x 14″ and I’ve used my fibreglass brush for the birds and a scalpel for the landscape done in my trusty squiggly style.

Victoria Falls is the most amazing place with it’s booming noise of the falls, spray, rainbows and a surprising lack of people wandering all over it, a far cry from that other amazing place, Niagara, where you literally have to fight to get a good view. That’s the thing with Africa, if you do some work you can see the most amazing places and still get away from people (if you wish to) as evidenced by Africa’s version of the Grand Canyon, Fish River Canyon in Namibia. It even looks like the Grand Canyon but I would have seen a maximum of ten other people all day (other than the group with me).

Having said that, I hope to visit the US next year to coincide with the first exhibition held by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (more info on that later) and I can’t wait to see more of America’s natural wonderland. I’ve been over three times before and absolutely love the place.

Scratchboard artists of the world unite

Update to the new International Society of Scratchboard Artists. Our board which includes me as Vice President and six others from the USA and Canada is well underway with incorporation and organizing a show for next year which will be held in Austin, Texas which will include some of the finest scratchboard art in the world.

The International Society of Scratchboard Artists came about initially because we had noticed on many occasions artists commenting that the exhibitions they were entering work into had no category for our medium. When people asked organizers which category they should enter their scratchboards into, they would be told such things as ‘Works on Paper’ or ‘Drawing’. Sometimes we would be put in a ‘Multimedia’ category and some organizers have dared to tell us scratchboard might be better suited at craft shows without ever seeing our work or what scratchboard as a medium is capable of in the hands of good artists. Many members of the general public and artist communities alike have little knowledge of scratchboard.

We know it is a fine art medium and our desire to elevate it to that level in other people’s consciousnesses is one of the driving forces behind the formation of ISSA.

Other mediums have their own societies representing them but we never did, until now. We spent a lot of time bemoaning the fact that scratchboard as a fine art medium didn’t get the recognition it deserved. This will change with ISSA which has the goals of lifting the profile of scratchboard internationally, providing exhibitions for members to enter their art into, organizing workshops to get the message and teaching across to the art and general communities and providing an organization where scratchboard artists can feel like they aren’t isolated but can actually feel a sense of belonging to what is already a very large community worldwide.

Even without a society we already had members winning “best in show” and “people’s choice” awards and making great sales in some of the most prestigious art exhibitions in the world so with a society the future of scratchboard looks very bright indeed.

The founding board members of ISSA are Lorna Hannett from Canada, Sue Rhodes, Diana Lee, Cathy Sheeter, Sandra Willard and Ken MacFarlane from the US and Patrick Hedges from Australia.

So, if you are a scratchboard artist, or would like to try this medium, watch this space over the next few months.