Whatever you believe, and however you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a lovely peaceful day. With no children in the house it is hard to get too carried away, but we’ll be phoning family later on to see how their day is going. We’re just pottering round the house and then having a roast chicken for dinner. We’ll swap presents late afternoon and that’s about it really. Because it is a week day, Tony is on ambulance duty as normal, so let’s hope it is uneventful…
We interrupt this blog to bring you – family photos. Tony recently went to a medieval themed dinner for St John’s and received an award for 9 years of service. He hired a Friar Tuck costume and had a good evening with his fellow volunteers. And our grandson Rory attended his first Playcentre Christmas party, and had a lovely time playing with his friends.
It’s not often I do anything that involves lots of layers of glazing, but I thought it was time to do something different, something a little slower. Have you read about slow food, slow cloth, slow whatever? It’s all about taking your time, savouring the process, using your process like meditation. That’s what this painting is like for me; a slow, meditative process where I put some glazed colour on, look and think, put some more on, look and think…
I decided to paint a close-up of a rose because it gives me quite distinct areas of tone and colour, and because the definite form means I hopefully won’t drift off into abstract land on this one. I found a free photo of a rose on the net and printed it out. I covered the back in pastel, taped it to my canvas and then used a sharp pencil to transfer the main lines onto my canvas.
I have done quite a few layers so far and, at this stage, it looks very crude and altogether too ‘obvious’ for my liking. But as I go through the layers I will soften both the edges and the colors. Hopefully I’ll arrive at something I can enjoy. We’ll see!
1. A body of paintings that hangs together around a theme or process (don’t know what yet).
2. A small body of textile work to exhibit as a whole.
3. Some charity work so I can give back.
4. To market myself more systematically.
Here’s the expanded version – with the where’s and whys:
1. A body of paintings that hangs together around a theme or process (don’t know what yet). This is the big one for the year. As it says, I don’t know yet what it is that will bring cohesion, but I do know that cohesion is what I need form my work this year. A body of work that I can hang in one place, and one time, and have it say “one artist did this and it works”. How hard can it be!
2. A small body of textile work to exhibit as a whole. I am planning a series of experimental work with TLC tutor and artist Trisha Findlay. We’ve yet to work out the details but essentially we’re talking about a monthly challenge with a view to exhibiting the work at the end of the process. And speaking of process, the challenge is likely to be around process, not size, or subject etc.
3. Some charity work so I can give back. This is about donating the occasional work to charity auctions etc. Not too much or too often, but enough to know I am giving back. Why not too much or too often? Think about this – when do you think was the last time your accountant or mechanic was asked to donate his time and materials to a charity auction? Yet artists are not big earners to start with…
4. To market myself more systematically. I do some marketing but it is a bit haphazard. I need to think it through more, be more systematic; less scatter-gun, more bulls eye!
Have you been thinking about what you did in 2008? Do you have any goals in mind for 2009? I’d love to hear your thoughts on either, or both.
It seems that Mt Egmont / Taranaki is very popular at the moment, which is fine with me as I enjoy painting it. This one has been sold locally; the new owner tells me it is propped up in their bedroom at the moment so she can sit in bed and look at it in the mornings. What lovely feedback! It’s done with water soluble oils on board and was approx 12×14″. It’s a photo I took with my old camera, so the colours are not accurate, but at least I do have some record of it.
Cath Sheard Art 