Cath Sheard Art

Author: Catherine Barker-Sheard

  • 60 postcards to make for Legato shareholders

    As part of my ‘art share’ offer to raise money for our trip to Italy, for the Legato exhibition, I have to make 60 postcards. These will be mailed back to shareholders once we reach Cassino. I am working on heavy weight watercolour postcards; they come in a little silver tin and the lovely to work with. I have made a digital montage of images of Italy and the Cassino area, the artworks I have created for the four men I am honoring, photos of the men, and words about the trip like Italy, Legato, WWII, peace and the men’s names. I’ve printed multiple copies of this A4 montage.

    I decided to work in two batches of 30 postcards each. I put a very light wash of Nickel Azo Yellow on the postcards then quickly blotted with a paper towel to get some texture. Once that was dry I added splashes of Cadmium red medium and again left them to dry. Once they were really dry I added runs of the same red, quite dilute, as I had done on the original artworks; it brings a sense of blood without being too obvious. Once they had dried, I tore the digital collage sheets into strips and have adhered a strip on each one that is about a 1/3 of the width of the postcard.

    What comes next? Tomorrow I’m going to hand-cut a stencil of the main lines of two different poppies, using acetate and a tiny soldering iron.  In the meantime, here’s the digital collage I made.

  • New paintings – sunset at the tidal pool

    I have just sent a new series of four paintings off to the “all things small and beautiful” exhibition in Tauranga. All works had to be 10×10″ – one of my favorite sizes to work in. The four works are all very similar in color and style and are all titled ‘sunset at the tidal pool’. They are loosely based on memories of seeing Dale Chihuly glass at an exhibition Tony and I went to in Hamilton on our honeymoon some 15 years ago. The sheer wonder of seeing his work in the flesh is still with me today. Dale’s incredible work can be seen here.

  • Legato artworks finished for Italy in May

    After sitting with these for a week or so, I have decided they are finished (with one possible, slight, adjustment still in my sights…). This afternoon I got the best photographs of them I could manage given the weather etc. The four men featured are:

    Mansel Barker, my father, otherwise known as Ableseaman Barker.

    Jack Robinson, my best friend Sandra’s father, who served with the 5th Field Ambulance.

    Roy Lehndorf, my best friend Sandra’s uncle, who died within a few months of being posted overseas.

    Alan McLeod, Margaret Prince’s father, who lost both legs to a Schu mine.

  • LEGATO works – process photos

    Last week and over the weekend I was working on the four mixed media paintings that I am taking to Italy for the LEGATO exhibition in May. I thought it was time I shared some snapshots of the process – I have not taken photos of the finished works as yet; partly because I am not 100% certain they are finished. I am living with them for a week or so while I eye them up! Here’s how they got to the “I think these are done’ stage…

    Writing the story on the canvas
    First acrylic wash over the writing
    Adding copies of photos and old war documents
    Building up the washes and splashes
    Adding the reminder that war is a bloody business
    Painting in a peace poppy on each, helping to obscure the text

  • Patea Freezing Works – Old Pipework IV

    I have had the last week off work to concentrate on paintings for the upcoming LEGATO exhibition in Italy. So of course my new museum-grade canvases took a while to arrive… I used the time to do some more Patea Freezing Works paintings. Here is the latest to get a signature and coat of varnish. I love the rusty old red pipes against the purple buildings and mossy old walls.

    Old Pipes IV is 16×12″ in acrylic on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and on Etsy.