Some of my close friends and family will be getting home-made gifts this year. This is for a good friend whose farm dog likes nothing better than to sleep in an old armchair in the corner of the lounge. Done in acrylics, the matted size is 25 x 21cm. I love the black and white coat of Border Collies; in this case I have captured it in purples, white and a little blue. I took serious liberties with the wall colour behind her, but I’m sure the owner won’t mind!
Over at Michelle’s GPP Crusades blog, this month’s challenge is to document your sign. Michelle says “The signs I’m talking about are images or things that make you think of a loved one”. My instant thought was “I can do that, possibly even without crying”. And I did. Because I needed to write so much I have created my journal page in Word and Photoshop and will be printing it out to glue into my journal as a reminder to myself. So, come on, why not join the Crusades too, and tell us about your sign? (By the way, documenting my sign turned out to be more imporant than doing something artsy this time. I didn’t even pick up a paintbrush!)
Yesterday I spent a few hours doing more than a dozen 16x10cm tests on Bockford paper using fluid acrylics, pencil, pen, oil pastels, pastels and Indian Ink. As usually happens, I started off quite tight, drawing what I could see. Then, as I got used to the image and the shapes, the works got looser. There are a couple that are heading in the direction I want – both have at least some of the hazy, layered quality I am looking for.
These were all based on just one of the photos so there are more samples to come before I get to a stage where I am heady to bring out the canvases. Not that the paintings will be based on the test runs, but these wee works will certainly inform what I do, and help get my brain and hand familiar with the subject matter.
I have been looking at my inspiration wall of photos for a couple of days now. Today I chose about 20 favorite photos and used the “find edge” function in PhotoShop to have a closer look at the lines in them. It’s interesting what turned up; I have shared a couple of them so you can see what I mean.
Tonight or tomorrow I will start drawing them in Indian Ink and pastels, concentrating on the lines and the bigger shapes. At the same time, I am rereading one of my most-used books on abstract art, thinking about the theory behind what I am doing. Thinking about the words, the layers of meaning and what I am bringing to this project.
Here’s some of the photos that are on my wall, all of the derelict Patea Freezing Works across the river from our house. What fascinates me is when you start looking is how many blue or orange stripes there are, and how many grid-like shapes you can find. 
Cath Sheard Art 
