Artist: Richard Cayou

Artist Bio:

Richard Cayou is a Colorado native, who currently resides at the foot of Rocky Mountain National Park in Northern Colorado. He is a self taught visual artist involved in amateur photography, fine crafted 2D metal art and currently practicing the fine art of scratchboard etchings. He incorporates his love for the western way of life and the wildlife that resides there into finely detailed etchings. He enjoys traveling throughout the western states in search of opportunities to increase his artistic portfolio through realistic representations. Scratchboard art is a form of direct engraving. He uses a prepared 3 layer board, consisting of an 1/8” masonite board, covered with a layer of white china clay, then a thin layer of black India ink. He scratches through the black ink with an exacto blade, scapel, or sewing needle, to reveal the white clay underneath making a black and white image. Then if he wants the image to have color in it, he goes back in with light washes of diluted colored ink and paints it on, lets it dry and then he can scratch it again to build the layers of color and add highlights. For this Emu egg, he sanded off the hard outer surface and painted in black India ink, so that he had a similar surface to start working on. He scratched into the light blue layer of the egg to create the image. Richard is a member of the Western Art Rodeo Association and an Active Member of International Society of Scratchboard Artists.

Artist Contact:

Richard Cayou
KU designs
www.kudesigns.com
rich@kudesigns.com
(970) 667-5705