Cath Sheard Art

Category: Uncategorized

  • Full moon

    I’m one of those people who are really affected by the full moon. Perhaps it is the light through our bedroom curtains, perhaps it is some tidal pull – who knows? What I do know is, come the full moon, I am *wide awake*, and likely to be found painting or emailing at 3am 😉

    One afternoon Mum and I drove down to the beach for a quick look round and, quite by accident, I got some amazing shots of the full moon in a bright deep-blue sky, seen through the long grass. I have used the images over and over and over; and will continue to do so. Here is the latest moon painting. This one is acrylic on 30×40″ gallery wrap canvas and is heading for exhibition in Auckland in September.

  • Bare bones

    As I’ve said before, I paint mainly with paper towels and baby wipes and hardly use brushes. So how do I start a painting? I use old magazines as throw-away palettes; I choose a colour or three and squeeze some out onto a fresh magazine page. I squeeze a baby wipe in a paper towel, so the baby wipe is a bit drier, and the paper towel is damp. I pick up some colour/s with the baby wipe and start smearing them around, covering the canvas.

    If I want to remove some colour, I use the damp paper towel. If I want thin, even colour, I scrunch the baby wipe up and rub hard. When I want to change colours and the current lot of paint is used up, I throw the page away and start on a fresh one. Quick ‘n easy clean up!

    I this series of photos you can see the bare bones, done yesterday, and the almost-completed painting, which I have been working on this morning. So far, I have not picked up a brush. The middle shot shows the texture and variety of marks I get with the tools I use.  

  • This ‘might’ be done – and the mess

    Well, I did say I had art “stuff” everywhere – and I wasn’t joking. You can see what I mean about the bed being covered in paintings! And the winter light from the window is half blocked by my easel. Oh well…

    On the plus side, I think I am happy with this large moon painting. Need to live with it for a few days and see if I stay happy. It’s a terrible photo by the way, but the best I can manage today.

  • Semi-controlled chaos

    I have six paintings to finish by the end of the month for exhibition in Auckland. It is seriously freezing in my art room at this time of the year. So I am working inside the house, using my office as an art room. My office is really half of the spare bedroom, with a bookcase, desk, computer desk and a couple of printers – so it’s kinda cramped at the best of times.

    Currently there are two large, partly painted, canvas against the wall just inside the door. Four long, thin canvas lying on the bed, drying after from their first coat of tinted gesso. And no gesso on the duvet cover. And a little gesso on the duvet cover. My desk is smothered in paint brushes, tubes of paint, reference photos, paper towels and so on.

    It is a very good thing we are not expecting any visitors… 

  • Moving homes!

    Welcome to my new WordPress.com blog.

    I was having problems with blogspot but thought it was just me. Nope … turns out a lot of people have been experiencing hassles. Enough already! When I saw Martha Marshall was having problems and had made the switch it galvanised me into action. So here I am. I hope you’ll bookmark this site, re-subscribe, etc. Thanks for joining me.