Cath Sheard Art

Category: Uncategorized

  • You made a sale! The good news department.

    I love the quirky emails RedBubble send out when something sells on their website. Today the email was to say I’ve sold some greeting cards of a work I uploaded yesterday. Why do sales matter to me? The obvious reason is to make money from my art, to recoup some of my costs. But of course there’s much more to it that just a few dollars here and there. A sale is recognition that someone went to my site to start with, and that they actually liked what I do enough to open their wallet on my behalf. How cool is that?

    Okay, good so far. Does the recognition matter, or perhaps more correctly, should the recognition matter? As artists we paint because we have to, because we have this inner drive to express ourselves and to share our vision of the world. Our vision still exists, whether other people appreciate it or not. We need to get it out onto paper or canvas, not just want to.  And yet, here’s the thing, for me anyway. The recognition by other people, other artists especially if I am totally honest, does matter. Why? Because it validates the vision of the world I have. It says I’m okay and what I produce is ok. Would I change what I’m doing if it wasn’t okay? I doubt it, but the validation through sales and feedback sure don’t do my day any harm either!

    How about you. Is your vision valid no matter what? Or does your day get a boost when someone posts positive feedback?

    Working the Freezing Works IV. Cath Sheard 2010

  • Trial run for new series of work

    In May some of us who travelled to Italy for the Legato exhibition will be showing work together in Wellington. The exhibition, timed to be one year on from Legato and held at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, will give artists an opportunity to focus on the experience of the trip and what Italy meant to us. As with the works I took to Italy, I want the new paintings to need really looking at; I don’t want hem to reveal all at first glance. I want them to be personal, yet not so personal that others would not want to own them. Yes, I am hoping for some sales! And I want them to contain layers, in the same way that the trip had layers of meaning for Tony and I. I’m working smallish again, possibly about 30×30″, because that size encourages people to get up close and examine the work.  

    This is a work I have done for our bedroom wall, to l the pastel of Mt Egmont that I sold recently. It’s 20×24″ and has quite ba few layers – it’s done in acrylic and ink, with rubber stamping and collage using our own digital photos.  I need to live with it for a bit, but I think this is how I will be creating the news works – just not with photos that have Tony or I in them…

    Remembering Rome. Cath Sheard, 2010

  • My guiding word for 2011

    Each year I have a word that guides me. Last year’s was MAP and it turned out to be exactly right, even down to the MAPs that guided us in Italy and Dubai. MAP had all sorts of connotations for me and was a useful word to refer back to. Many people who have a word for the year choose something quite exotic or ‘trendy’ –  I’m sure you have seen examples. I would love this year’s word to be something exotic and terribly clever but it’s not. I have searched for another word, woken in the night thinking about it, but no matter what I do, only one word fits for 2011.

    My word this year is — DETERMINED. I am determined to:

    • get in plenty of art time
    • use good quality canvas for all my works
    • enter more art events than in 2010
    • lose another 25 kilos
    • get on my exercycle at least 5 times a week
    • save money towards a trip to Dubai before Tony retires
    • make sure Mum stays happy as she gets older
    • ensure there is balance in my life

    When I look at the list, what other word would guide me as well as DETERMINED? What are you DETERMINED to do this year?

    Finlly, here is a painting I have been working on over the weekend, but I haven’t yet determined if it is finished. It’s the view down Patea River to the Tasman Sea from a friend’s farm.

    Patea Sea Walls with Cow. C Sheard, 2010

  • Looking back at 2010

    At the end of each year I think back on what I have done; it’s easy for achievements to sort of slide on by barely noticed. Knowing what we have done, and where we’ve been, helps map the road forward – so here a quick recap of things that stand out from 2010 (edited following comments from my best friend Sandra – thank you):

    • Completed my 3-yearly professional registration with LIANZA
    • Entered numerous art exhibitions around the country
    • Supported my best mate Sandra and her mother through another difficult year
    • Kept Mum happy, and quite well, through most of the year
    • Sold a few paintings
    • Lent Sandra my notebook for a couple of months, to save her sanity, when her laptop got stolen
    • Moved Auntie Julie to a new rest home
    • Tidied up my online presence
    • Made Sandra laugh when no one else could – or even thought they should probably
    • Completed a lot of the NZ Art Guild Challenges
    • Bought an exercycle and have actually used it
    • Joined in the Crusades at the GPP Street Team site
    • Lost 25 kilos
    • Gave my father, and Sandra’s father and uncle, the acknowledgement they deserve through the Legato exhibition
    • Became Co-Chair of a national committee for public librarians
    • Went to Italy with Tony for the Legato exhibition
    • Stepped things up another notch at work with my awesome team
    • Was able to wind up a Trust I was part of (with the help of the other Trustees)

    My word for 2010 was Map. At the end of 2009 I said Map relates to those (art) works and to the thought processes behind those works. MAP worked well for me, both with my art and in personal goals. I mapped out all sorts of endeavours and achieved them. So my word for 2011 is – well, that’s a post for another day.

  • The final ‘art share’ painting is complete

    As many of you know, I sold approx 60 art shares for our trip to Italy for the Legato exhibition, and each share holder was to get a 6×6″ painting inspired by the trip. 59 down and 1 to go heading into the festive season. I left this one painting till last because I agreed to do something different for one couple. I probably shouldn’t have agreed, but I did, for reasons I think I have some small understanding of. Everyone else got a poppy painting, but this couple wanted something about Dubai; the Burj al Arab to be precise. I won’t go into why they wanted Dubai instead – that’s their story to tell, not mine.

    Recently I received a commission for 3 more Poppy paintings, and over the Christmas break I have completed those and am happy with them. I hope the customer likes them just as much. With no excuses left, I started in the Burj painting and it was not as tricky as I’d expected (one of the main reasons I had put it off till last). So, aside from varnishing, that’s the final art share painting done, and all my obligations met. What a great feeling.

    Burj Al Arab: C Sheard 2010