Judy Larson...
Judy Larson always knew she was going to be an artist. As a child she was particularly inspired by her father, a professional illustrator. Judy received a Bachelor of Science degree on Commercial Art from Pacific Union College in Northern California, then spent the next 17 years as a commercial artist, illustrator and art director.

In 1988, influenced by her love of nature and animals, Judy devoted her time to wildlife art. Her primary focus in each painting is the animal, with horses and wolves as recurring subjects. Her unique approach to her work is through the use of scratchboard, a technique that can render magnificent detail, but requiring infinite patience.

Scratchboard, an old but little used medium, consists of a board with a white china clay surface. The subject is then painted solidly with black India ink. A working sketch is traced on to the black silhouette with white chalk. Now the exacting work begins, engraving the image into the surface of the board. While many artists use steel nibs or engraving tools, Judy prefers to work with X-Acto blades, changing them every few minutes to produce as fine a line as possible. Once the subject has been totally scratched, it is a finished black and white illustration, ready for the artist to color. The methods of adding color are diverse. Jusy prefers a combination of airbrush, gouache or acrylics for finishing with frequent rescratching for detail. Scratchboard is a demanding medium, one that Judy has used masterfully in developing her unique approach to wildlife art.

*Courtesy of Applejack Art Partner