"Dragonfly" original scratchboard with metallic watercolor © Judy Lavoie 2023
  • MEDIUM:  Scratchboard with Metallic Watercolor (on wings)
  • SIZE:  5" x 5"
  • STATUS: Sold

"This dragonfly image spoke to me, and it seemed it would be the ideal subject for a couple of new techniques I was attempting. First, I wanted to create a bokeh effect. This word describes an out-of-focus background, primarily used in photography, which makes distant light sources look like soft blurred circles. I have used this effect in a couple of watercolor paintings, like "Remembrance", but creating the look in scratchboard challenged me. Second, I wanted to try metallic watercolor on the wings, faintly giving them a silvery-white glow.

With some experimenting on practice Scratchbord™ panels, I finally figured out some techniques to do bokeh circles and found diluted pearl metallic watercolor by FineTec worked well on the wings (the latter does not show well in a photograph, but looks great in person!). I think these touches add a uniqueness to my Dragonfly."