Cath Sheard Art

Category: Uncategorized

  • Mark making and working loose

    Yep, more in the “working loose and having fun” series. It feels so good to be back to mark making – something we explored extensively in the first year of my art course, must be five years back now. I studied with the Learning Connexion here in New Zealand, extramurally, for four years. In the end I completed an Advanced Diploma of Art & Creativity (Honours). It felt like such an achievement, and really pushed me to learn new things. Anyway…

    Having moved away from mark making to all kinds of other processes, I have come full circle. And yet I am not back where I started from. I am back to the same technique, but with a very different end result, and am loving it. I regularly check Katherine Tyrrell’s blog Making a Mark here; she writes in depth about mark making and has great links to blogs of interest.

    So expect to see a bit more of this style for now, especially as Katherine Tyrrell’s recent post on working in series really got me thinking about working more consistently on one theme. Mark making – like coming home after a long day at work, it just feels good.

  • Ever wondered about fine art collage?

  • Putting back – Starship fundraiser

    The NZ Art Guild are supporting the Starship Foundation’s Christmas Cracker House Tour on November 14th, where there will be a market stall selling a variety of goods. Funds raised this year will go towards head cooling caps for Starship’s Intensive Care Unit.

    As a member of the Guild I was keen to get involved. My cousin died if leukemia when we were both 14 years old. I wish Starship had existed then for Dean and his family. So, I have made six 4×4 Christmas canvas – each one is unique, but all are similar (production line art for speed). I hope the money they raise helps this valuable cause.

  • Working loose

    It’s been a long week at work. School holidays are always a very busy time in a library, but we have 6 new computers with free internet so the teens are swarming! We normally have about 500 people through the doors each week. This week we hit just over 1,000 – not bad when you consider the population of Patea is approx 1100. And to make life even more “interesting” this week two of my four staff were off sick. I just hope they’re resting up well.

    My rest has come in the form of painting time, shut away in my art room with no people, no teens, no music – just me and my paints. If I can’t sleep, I can always paint, and paint I have. I have been trying to work looser and also trying to lift my colours a bit. I do tend to paint quite dark paintings, and am making a real attempt at more cheerful work. This one is 10×10″ on gallery wrap canvas.

  • GPP Street Team Crusade No 23

    Well, the month is almost over, and today I got the chance to enter Michelle’s latest challenge. You can read the details here. The challenge was about cleaning up – “clearing your plate” – but doing it your own way. And I did.

    Today I moved mountains of “stuff” that had accumulated in my art room. Emptied boxes, consolidated things, cleaned up piles of left over bits and bobs. I wouldn’t call the room super tidy or super organised; but compared with the non-existent “before” photos, it’s a miracle 🙂

    Can you see the wall of 4×4 and 4×8 canvas piled up at the back of my desk – I love having them all sitting there just waiting for me to have a few spare minutes!