Two Tomatillos

Sandy's expertise is in watercolors, scratchboard art and computer graphics, all of which are represented here. Scratchboard art is a form of direct engraving. The panel starts out solid black and then the artist scratches to expose a layer of white clay under black ink. The working surface is a three layer medium made up of a 1/8" masonite panel as a support The support is covered with smooth white clay followed by a thin layer of black India ink, leaving a solid black panel to start with. The artist then uses various tools to scratch through the black ink and reveal the white clay below. Every line, dot and dimple is created by hand all with lines and dots and variation in tone and value are based on how many lines are scratched in a particular area or how much of the white clay that your eye sees. Large and complex pieces can take hundreds of hours to be completed due to the many layers of tiny scratches that cover the board.