Painted Turtle Size:  40.5 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in) Medium:  Acrylic Support:  Gessoboard Notes:  Airbrushed When my father was ill, I needed to do a simple little something to take a break every once and a while. I can’t say that I progressed very far. This is the state it stayed in for quite a while: When I was able to devote my full attention to this piece, I went at it with gusto, no longer content to do this as an exercise. Why a turtle? Having gone to the University of Maryland, whose mascot is the terrapin, turtles will forever loom large in my life. More than that, at the time I wanted to take a step away from mammals and try a reptile. When I found this reference image, I knew that it would be a great subject. This image and many other images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.

Turning 18 Size:  35.5 x 28 cm (14 x 11 in) Medium:  Scratchboard Support:  Scratchbord Notes:  — Few things are as life-changing as that time when you become an adult (a legal adult). Now it’s all on you. Sometimes, as an observer, you can see those moments when the meaning of that special birthday sinks in. I was privileged to be able to capture one of those moments. In some ways, this was a very lucky pose of opportunity. I didn’t direct it, but I had gone to the birthday celebration with an image in my head that I wanted to capture. Fortune presented me with what I’d seen in my mind’s eye, and I froze the moment with my camera. Using that as my referential inspiration, I translated the mood of the image into a scratch work. The Muses were kind to me with this one. Many images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.

El Gato Size:  26.5 x 20.5 cm (10.5 x 8 in) Medium:  Scratchboard Support:  Claybord Notes:  Airbrush applied acrylic colors I wanted to merge my loves of airbrush and scratchboard. When I saw the reference image of this cat, I knew I’d found the right subject. “Fur-people” are a natural for scratchboard. The ability to represent hair/fur from fine to thick gives scratchboard an advantage over many other mediums. Airbrush provides the ability to render subtle shades of color very quickly and with a thinness that serves scratchboard well. It’s an outstanding marriage when you combine the two. This image and many other images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.

Mother’s Day Hummingbird Size:  12.5 x 18 cm (5 x 7  in) Medium:  Scratchboard Support:  Scratchbord Notes:  — My mom was the inspiration of this piece. She loves hummingbirds. I also took it as a great opportunity to stretch my own wings a bit (as it were). All of the scratchboard pieces I’d seen had been pretty static, and I was thinking that I could exploit the illustrative techniques I’d gained over the years to try to put some action into this medium. Every scratchboard hummingbird I had seen had the bird’s wings frozen, as if by a high speed camera. Watching hummingbirds every year in my backyard, I know that that’s not how they look in real time. So I put in some wing motion blur. This techinque drew it share of raves from the scratchboard community. Originally, the hummingbird was going to be approaching a flower (it was sketched out on the board), but that simply wasn’t satisfying me. When I realized that mother’s day was coming up, and that this was inspired by my mother, I opted instead to put in the hungry chicks. They definitely work much better than the flower would have. This image and many other images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.

Athena’s Little Owl Size:  12.6 x 17.8 cm (5 x 7 in) Medium:  Scratchboard Support:  Scratchbord Notes:  My first scratchboard started. It flew up onto a gallery wall pretty quickly. This is the first scratchboard piece that I started, though the second one finished (all those feathers!). Once framed, it went straight onto the gallery wall for sale. This one obliquely touches on my love of Hellenic Mythology. The Little Owl (yes, that’s what it is really called) was the species of owl that was most often symbolized with the goddess Athena. I figured if I was going to venture forth onto the untamed seas of scratchboarding, it would be nice to gain divine favor at the outset. This image and many other images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.

Kenai Foal Size:  38 x 76 cm (15 x 30 in) Medium:  Acrylic Support:  Stretched Canvas Notes:  Airbrushed This is based on a photo I took of Kenai, the young horse of my DLT, Jessica. Sometimes I get on a kick of creating stuff for people’s birthdays and other holidays. I try not to do it too often as people start thinking that giving art away is your default. Still sometimes a subject presents itself that simply says “present”. I had to do something featuring Jessi’s foal. I just had to. Many images by CJ Carter are ready for purchase in a variety of formats: prints, canvas prints, phone cases, and so much more. Help support this site and the artist by dropping by the store and getting gifts for yourself, for family, and friends.