Scratchboard + Value Strip

The subject of this project is my cat, Pepper, laying up in my loft bed. The work was made by taking a photo, making it black-and-white, printing it, gridding it and the scratchboard paper, and then scratching the image out of the scratchboard with a scratching utensil. I chose to make this piece because I always wanted to do an art project on my cat, and I thought this was the best way to do one.

One composition technique that is used is the rule of thirds, and that is shown in how her head and paws line up with the right vertical "line." My project changed and evolved because I kept checking back to make sure I did enough scratching/shading in certain areas, and proceeded to fix that.

The meaning behind this is that you can find beauty really anywhere. I wasn't sure I wanted to make a scratchboard on this picture because I didn't like the setting. But, I realized that it still looked good because my cat was there and made it look better. This relates to my life because I feel like I need to notice that more often.