Probably best described as multimedia, I started with an Artist Bord by Ampersand and covered it with a coat of Golden Silverpoint Drawing Ground. My first thought was to use metalpoint, but after sketching in the birds on both, I switched to colored pencil. I used some blue ink for the backgrounds, and on the larger piece, I used an aluminum scrubber pad to place some blurry tree branches and a border.
Using graphite pencils on this smooth surface was a challenge. I sprayed it with fixative about halfway through to be able to add a few more layers of pencil. One nice thing about Ampersand Claybord is being able to scratch out highlights.
Using India ink has been eye opening. It’s lightfast, permanent, and waterproof. It’s available in many colors, and it’s mostly transparent. It can be a stick, liquid in a bottle, or markers. I guess I never thought about how perfect it is as a medium.
I think it creates beautiful, glowing colors. Unlike watercolor, I don’t overmix and create mud. I wanted to add a little opacity as well as some white here and there, however, so I bought a bottle of Dr. Martins’s Bombay white. That, along with the few dozen Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pens should hold me for awhile.
I’ve learned to work from light to dark as once the ink is down, it’s not possible to lift it unless working on a surface like Claybord or Duralar. I’ve also learned to use washes and glazes. I don’t quite know how such an art supply fiend like me has managed to miss ink as a medium all these years. I’m pleased I finally found it.
I snapped a picture of this medium-sized woodpecker this weekend and discovered it’s a female yellow-bellied sapsucker. I took a 6”x8” Ampersand Claybord that had the start of a project that wasn’t going well and painted black ink over it. This drawing is mostly scratchboard with some additional Ampersand ink for the tree and bird highlights.