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Awards
May
2006
Featured Artist
Natures Artist Guild of the Morton Arboretum Annual Spring
Show
Lisle,
Illinois
February
2006
Merit Award
DuPage Art League . Wheaton,
Illinois
October
2005
Best of Show (Botanical)
DuPage
County
Forest
Preserve
Annual Fall Nature Show
Wheaton
,
Illinois
Sept/Oct
2005
Judges Mention Award
Colored Pencil Society of
America
Chapter
Show
Schaumburg
,
Illinois
August
2005
Purchase Award and the Award of Excellence
Arts in
Bartlett
Fine Art
Fair . Bartlett,
Illinois
August
2005
Merit Award
DuPage Art
League . Wheaton,
Illinois
April
2005
Merit Award
DuPage Art
League .
Wheaton
Illinois
November
2004
Merit Award
DuPage Art
League .
Wheaton
,
Illinois
October
2004
Honorable Mention Award
DuPage
County
Forest
Preserve
Annual Fall Nature Show
Wheaton
,
Illinois
Artist
Demonstrates Art With Character
written
by Peter Krupa for the Beacon Courier Newspaper on 4/14/04
Raphael
used it, and so did Leonardo da Vinci. Instead of today's
graphite pencil, they used precious metals - silver, gold, copper -
to quickly sketch out ideas and preliminary outlines of paintings.
Though
it has been hundreds of years since the practice was common, a
Lombard artist likes to think these "metalpoint" drawings
have a special character to them. "Silverpoint tends to
give itself a more intimate look," said nature artist Christina
Roberts. "It begs you to look at it closer."
Roberts
has been depicting nature on paper with watercolors and colored
pencils for years. Only in the last two years has she turned
her delicate hand to the fine lines of silverpoint. Metalpoint
techniques are much the same as regular sketching, with a few
twists, Roberts said. First of all, one generally uses a hard
surface, such as museum board, instead of paper or canvas.
Second, the surface must be coated with a hard, slightly abrasive
"ground" on which the metal can rub off.
For
a tip, one can use a piece of silver, gold or copper wire from a
jewelry shop. The handle can be a number of devices designed
to hold small files or bits, usually to be found at craft
stores. There's also one more catch modern artists may not be
used to: Once a line is drawn, it can't be erased.
Of
course, the upside to that is once a drawing is finished, it cannot
be smudged. This is part of one of the best qualities of
metalpoint drawings, Roberts said: They stand the test of
time. The drawings do change color over the years as the metal
tarnishes - the silver turning light brown and the copper taking on
a greenish hue - but they do not fade.
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