Cath Sheard Art

Author: Catherine Barker-Sheard

  • Quick trip away

    Alan and I spent Labour weekend near Te Awamutu. We came home via Marokopa as it’s somewhere he’s always wanted to go. It was maybe an hour from Te Awamutu to Marokopa, partly because of the wind and torrential rain! The settlement is lovely, with all sorts of beach houses and a river people were whitebaiting on. It reminded me a bit of Waverley Beach and I could imagine retiring there.

    We took the back road through to Awakino which was a nice trip but, again, the rain spoilt the view. The road rejoins the state highway somewhere around the petrol station, so you miss most of the Awakino Valley and Ladies Mile.

    Marokopa
    There was a huge, very complete rainbow on the way home. The colours were much more vivid than this shows.

  • A proving ground

    My journals are a safe place to play but also somewhere for ideas to prove themselves or die… Sometimes an idea isn’t sustainable for practical reasons, perhaps because of the materials or energy required.

    Other times I start to play with an idea and, 2 or 3 iterations along, I’m getting bored with it. If an idea is going to become a series, even a small one, it’s needs to hold my attention for a sustained period of time.

    There’s been a couple of things recently I’ve tried and dropped for the above reasons. So I’ve gone back a bit to go forward – relooking at ideas that have captivated me in the past, and putting a fresh twist on them.

    I’m playing with ridge lines, mountains and the landscape generally. Because it’s a familiar subject I’m able to play around with my materials more. These early trial works incorporate gelli prints, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, water soluble pencils, Kuretake watercolours and Ranger Distress Foundry Wax.

  • Testing out my new journal

    I’ve been working in my new Seawhite journal today. It’s A4, with 350gsm watercolour paper and wire-o binding. The paper is lovely to work on; it even coped well when I spilt acrylic ink and had to use a lot of water to rescue the page, with no buckling or damage to the surface of the paper. One page has perhaps 6 layers of gelli printed deli paper in some areas and the paper is sturdy enough to handle it well. The cover is rigid so I can stand the journal up to let the drips run without it falling over. The wire-o binding has its benefits but, overall, I prefer a standard book binding where I can mop ink and water out of the trough between pages.

    Do I love it so far?Absolutely. The Drawing Room also has the Seawhite travel journal with 200gsm watercolour paper and a normal book binding. I’ll certainly be trying out those too.

  • The promise of a new journal

    The blank pages of a new journal offer the promise of a fresh start. Maybe this journal will inspire different work. Maybe this journal will magically improve my drawing skills. Maybe this is the journal that will help transform vague ideas into a cohesive series.

    Dina Wakley MEdia had two 6×6 journals I loved working in but, sadly, they are both out of production. One was very heavy white watercolour paper, the other heavy kraft stock. I have a couple of the kraft tucked away, but none of the white.

    I’ve got lighter weight journals I like working in, but also want something with very sturdy pages. A couple of artists have reviewed the Seawhite journals and said good things about them. I hadn’t seen them in New Zealand – until this week. I found them at The Drawing Room in Christchurch so ordered one straight away. I’m excited to try it out this weekend.

  • My journals are a safe place

    My journals are a safe place to play, experiment, and say whatever’s on my mind and in my heart. I share most of the pages I create, but there are a few that stay unseen in my journals. Alan’s away at the moment, so yesterday Sandra, Bruno and I went to New Plymouth playing Munzees after I’d taken Tony out for morning tea – he doesn’t want to go out for lunch at the moment for some reason. We had a fun day, and both earned a badge we didn’t expect to – it was fun!

    I’m heading to Hokitika on Thursday for about 10 days, so today I’ve semi-packed my bag. Next Sunday Pen and I will be working on some collab pieces at Left Bank Art Gallery, which I’m excited about. I’ve have spent most of the day at my art desk. I’ve got some lovely new Dina Wakley MEdia printed transparencies and stencils, so had to test them out 😉