Portrait #4 of cute kitty Jethro illustrates using Black Sumi Ink on a white Claybord™ panel. Each of my nine portraits of Jethro presents a different art medium on a 3.5" x 3.5" Claybord™ Tile, created and manufactured by Ampersand Art Supply. For this painting I used Yasutomo liquid Sumi Ink KY12, which is water soluable but dries water-resistant. This ink is made from pure vegetable soot, with no additives. Yasutomo brand's KF series contains a small amount of shellac for water resistance, but this KY series ink has no shellac and dries to a soft matte finish. I learned in my research that India Inks usually have added shellac also and some are made from synthetic pigments. I just happened to have the Yasutomo ink, and used it without all this knowledge! The inventor of Claybord, Charles Ewing, uses black ink on Claybord for magnificent artwork.
In a plastic tray palette I put a few drops of pure ink (marked with the blue tape in the photo above, since it is hard to tell which one it is next to the others). Each well counter-clockwise has ink diluted with more and more water. Above the palette is the brush I used for the entire painting (except for dabbing the background with a paper towel) and a swatch I painted to help me see the values of my diluted ink. After painting a wide variety of values to capture the image of Jethro, I used scratching techniques to reveal the white surface below, scratching in the direction of his fur. The backlighting created a soft halo against the dark background.
This small painting is another example of how you can create a realistic object as long as you get the values correct - very similar to a black and white photo. I love using Ampersand art panels - especially Claybord, Aquabord, and Scratchbord - which are terrific for capturing a wide variety of textures.
Read about my upcoming Claybord presentation below.
Claybord Art Tiles are the same white kaolin clay-coated, ultra smooth, highly absorbent surface as original Claybord but in unique small sizes. This surface and size is amazingly versatile, for a variety of painting applications, jewelry making, collage, coasters, magnets, ornaments, scrapbooking, embellishments, and much more! I love Claybord for the unlimited techniques is allows: painting, drawing, etching, erasing, reworking, glueing, stamping, inking, transfering images, applying skins and more!
Claybord 101 Video
My series of portraits of Jethro are featured in a presentation I made in May 2021, titled “Claybord™ - The Ultimate Art Surface.” The 25-minute program is now in video form and you can watch it here, on my Video page.
Learn all about the amazingly versatile Claybord art panel for 2-dimensional art a wide variety of media - watercolor, acrylics, colored pencils, graphite, collage, egg tempera, airbrush, gouache, rubber stamping, alcohol inks, markers, image transfers, acrylic skins, oils and more. It can be used as a printing plate with an etching press, and is ideal for mounting papers and fabrics. You'll see my work on these panels as well as the amazing work, in realistic and abstract styles, by many successful talented artists.
Claybord is available in sizes as large as 4'x6', and the Claybord Art Tiles provide a fun small surface for many creative uses. These tiles are available in ATC (Artist Trading Card) size too, for a unique option to exchange with other artists. Try it yourself!
