I’m not painting on canvas at the moment, I’ve gone back to paper for a bit. Why? Two reasons. 1. I’m wanting to try out some different ideas and materials, so using paper is very freeing. 2. The recession means people are looking for works in lower price brackets. So I’m considering offering more works on paper for sale on ArtFire and Etsy.
One of the ideas I am playing with is combining some of my favourite, local, photos in Photoshop and then testing them out in different media. I haven’t used much pastel lately and I miss it. I have some wonderful inks I’d like to try layering with the soft pastel, and perhaps even with oil pastels. I have cut a few stencils lately for use in my scrapbooks and now wonder about trying them out in my artworks. There’s a sort of cross-pollination going on.
And there’s a third reason why I have switched to paper. Reason number 3? It’s way, way too cold to work out in my art studio. Seriously way too cold. My fingers start aching in just minutes no matter what I do; unfortunately I have arthritis, but it is confined to my hands luckily. But I can work on smaller sheets of paper in my office. Even though that is not why I have an office – it’s really where I work on the newspaper we publish, and take care of life’s paperwork. But that’s okay, I promise to keep paint etc off the accounts. Hopefully!
Here is an amalgamation of 3 of my favourite photos, radically simplified in Photoshop. I think if I simplified it some more I could attempt to cut some stencils to get this look, then work over the stencilled image in pastel and ink. I’d ike to use Atelier Matte paints for the stencil work to get a really flat finish to start with. They provide a similar finish to gouache but I find them much easier to use. Has anyone else tried these newish paints yet?
Cath Sheard Art 
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