I am a self-taught painter and scratchboard artist.
It was not until I left my full-time secretarial position that I took a more serious interest in painting and then, when browsing the internet in February 2008, I discovered scratchboard art and have become totally addicted to this art form ever since.
In May 2011, I became an exhibiting member of the Queensland Wildlife Art Society (QWASI) and, in July 2011, I became one of Australia's first two designated Master Scratchboard Artists when a set of initial Master members (MSA) were juried into ISSA (International Society of Scratchboard Artists - scratchboardsociety.org/) by a panel of three outside jurors (all highly esteemed, professional artists themselves). Submitting artists had to meet all of the requirements for Master membership both in quality of artwork and promotion of the medium in order to receive the juror approval required by the ISSA by-laws. At this present time (2018) I am proud to be the only MSA in Queensland with there currently being only a total of 4 in Australia.
Scratchboard art is done by scratching lines and dots with a craft knife or other sharp instrument on a clayboard consisting of two layers - a white clay layer underneath covered with a layer of black ink. Scratching away at the black ink to various depths will gradually reveal the white clay underneath and, subsequently, the image. I use "Ampersand Scratchbord" for all of my art pieces.
My scratchboard artwork is in private collections in the USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand, China and also Australia. In March 2009 my work appeared at the Dean Johnson Gallery Indianapolis USA "Scratching the Surface" which was the first known international show of scratchboard art. Artists work from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Germany were featured. At this present time, I have been a published artist since 2006 with my scratchboard art featured in Australian Fine Art & Decorative Painting, Australian Country Craft, the Australian Artists Palette, Australian Artist, Australian Drawing & Inspiration, Australian Creative Artist and Australian How to Paint....Pets magazines.
In February 2017, I was one of three judges for the Open Category for the International Society of Scratchboard Artists exhibition held at the Stump Hill Gallery, Adelaide, Sth. Australia.