29-30 March 2025: Gum Blossoms on Scratchboard, with Joan McKay

Get lost in the moment, connect with nature and bring a unique artwork to life! In this unique three-part online scratchboard course you will learn how to create your own beautiful scratchboard artwork featuring a gum blossom with internationally-recognised artist Joan McKay. This course is suitable for beginning and continuing students.

Dates:  29-30 March 2025

Time: 10.00am - 4:00pm

Format:  NatureArt Lab, M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith

Once you have registered, you will be sent the materials list to complete the project. 

About the course:

Ampersand scratchboards are a wonderful medium on which to create detailed drawings which seem to jump off the page. They are archival and made from sealed hardboard coated with a white, smooth kaolin clay and layers of Indian ink. Tools are used to carefully scratch through the ink layer to reveal the white of the clay underneath.

In this workshop, Joan will demonstrate and participants will practice various scratchboard techniques using tools including a craft knife and a tattoo needle to represent textures, form and contrast. Participants will use these skills to render a sprig of eucalyptus starting with the twigs and leaves through to the blossoms before fine tuning with coloured ink and finishing touches “to bring it to life”. Image preparation, spraying and framing will be discussed.

Throughout the course participants will be presented with a wide range of scratchboard examples to analyse, including textures, composition, contrasts, and lost and found.
A materials kit will be available from the tutor. Please ensure that you book your place well ahead of time. A few additional supplies are required for the class including cotton gloves, an old hand towel, watercolour brush and small watercolour palette. Details of materials will be sent to all students prior to the class.

Course Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the workshop the student will be able to:

   

• Use scratchboard tools, a craft knife, tattoo needles and microfibre brush, to demonstrate techniques including creating textures, form and contrasts as observed in Australian flora, on Ampersand Scratchbords.

   

• Analyse the design and techniques used to create exemplary scratchboard examples of Australian flora.

   

• Create a floral specimen on a 6“ x 6” Ampersand scratchboard from a photo image by tracing it and working in layers of scratching. Develop the image further using coloured ink and highlighting, considering the form and composition.

   

• Understand how to select and process an image ready to use on a scratchboard and to complete a scratchboard with spraying and framing. 
  

This course is suitable for people who are aged 16+ who are beginners and those wishing to practice and develop their skills further. 

About the tutor:

Joan McKay is a Canberra-based award-winning artist and wildlife carer. When Joan saw how images could be realistically represented on a scratchboard, she enthusiastically attended workshops by Rikki Fisher to learn scratchboard techniques and since then has been honing her skills. She has found scratchboard to be a fantastic medium for realistically portraying macropods and birds she has cared for. Joan is a Signature member of The International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA). She is represented by Traffic Jam Galleries, was a finalist in 2021 National Capital Art Prize, was awarded first prize in the Strathnairn Arts Squares 2019 competition and has been exhibiting in several exhibitions, including Tucson, Arizona. Joan holds science, education and library studies degrees and has studied and practised art throughout her life, including drawing (Vanderbilt University) and watercolour media (ANU). Many of her scratchboards are displayed on her website and Instagram accounts: https://joanmck.weebly.com and @joanmck31 

Images provided by Joan McKay