Harry Seymour

Dog Day Afternoon, pastel/scratchboard, 12 x 16″

I paint in a way that is uniquely my own. Allergies have prevented me from painting in most media. As a consequence, I have had to discover methods I could tolerate, and they have been fortuitous in leading to a joyful, and now preferred, outcome. Currently, my work is dominated by a combination of scratchboard, pastel wax, and pan pastels.

Scratchboard art is in and of itself quite different from all other painting media. It is the only art-painting form that is subtractive and not additive. Typically, a black board is the medium and the artist scratches the art image into the board, which consists of three layers; the masonite board, a layer of white clay coating its surface, and a layer of black ink covering the white clay. Sharp etching tools such as knives and straight pins are used for “scratching” the images. My etchings reflect both the typical black-and-white format as well as the use of color.

I have been experimenting with pastel wax and pan pastels as ways to color my blackboards and white clayboards [boards without the black ink coating]. This method is evolving, but I am excited about outcomes and the capacity to synchronize tools, paints, and surface to form a work of art that is as much about the process as the outcome.