This fortnight’s NZ Art Guild Challenge was to base a work on the works of Ralph Hotere. Fantastic! But so much to choose from; dark and brooding paintwork? A cross? Sketchy lin drawing? Aluminium? Text? Oh, the choices … and all of them appealing.
I spent some time on Google images, looking at some of his works, then got out a couple of books I have of his works, and perused the pages. Finally, I decided on black and white with text. I started with a back background and added white pastel, white wax pencil and white gel pen. Next, I erased some of the pastel to give me some lines in the white. I scanned it into Photoshop and added a semi-transparent layer with the words of a HIM song, Like St. Valentine, in white using a font that’s based on my own (untidy) handwriting.
Michelle’s challenge this month over the GPP Street Team site was to make colour copies of the backgrounds we scraped together last month, and finish them a few different ways. Today was a rare day for me; aside from the washing, there was *nothing* I needed to do. No paperwork, no artwork due, no anything!
So, I did a pile of colour copies, grabbed some supplies and ripped into it. I used stencils, Sharpies, transparencies, foam stamps, bubble wrap stamping, hand writing, collage, stickers. With some of the pages I then re-scanned and added text in Photoshop.
All up, I did around 20 pages. Here are a few that I particularly like (I’m showing a couple of the original backgrounds too). In some of them not all of the writing is visible. This is because some of them became like journal pages as I worked and the messages on them feel reasonably personal given that I’m quite introverted. If you can read it all, go for it. If you can’t, never mind!
As always, thanks so much for the inspiration Michelle. If you enjoy looking at these, you’ll find links to other artists who are playing this month on the left hand side of the GPP Street Team home page. And if you want to join in – cool! Can’t wait to see what you create 🙂
It’s not often I get time alone at home; being full-time carer for my Mum means that I almost always have someone at home with me. On top of that, during the week we have two different caregivers coming in and out, etc. I value their help, we could not manage without them and both still work, but it’s more people in my days. For a real introvert, this is not always easy. Today my husband Tony has gone to visit his cousin Alison and my sister Ailsa has taken Mum out for a drive. So it’s just me, the cat and the dog. Bliss! I love my family and would not change my life for anything, but I do crave time alone.
So what does an artist do when they get some unexpected time out? Yes, that right, they head for their studio … and I did. I have started on some backgrounds, just playing with texture, colour and pattern. I’ve also done a few small, connected, abstract landscapes using my favorite Unison pastels.
I love the feel of pastels plus there’s such a depth of colour; I enjoy the way the light hits those fine particles of pure colour. The only downside for me is that if I use them too much the ends of my fingers get sore from wiping them clean all the time. I try not to be too compulsive about keeping my fingertips clean and that helps!
For the backgrounds I gathered up foam stamps, liquid acrylics, a white wax crayon, rubber paint spatula, letting stencils and some scraps of patterned paper. I fairly randomly layered the colours and patterns on. These are nothing finished about these at all – they are very much at the beginning stages so it’ll be fun to see what develops over the next few days.
Now I am going to sit down in the sunshine and start working with some ideas I’ve had for Christmas gifts. There’s less than 3 months to go, and I want to make one or two textile items for family members. Fingers crossed that my new glasses give me sharp enough focus for doing needlework. Time will tell…
Starting on some backgrounds; these will uncurl as I add more layers. Working on small landscapes in pastel.I love the way Unison pastels catch the light.
Back in May of this year Tony and I went to Italy where I exhibited at the LEGATO exhibition in Cassino, along with 40 or so other New Zealand artists. The exhibition featured paintings, mixed media, sculpture, textile works, glass and drawings; all around a theme of peace and remembrance. Organiser Kay de Latour has a blog where she is documenting the ongoing story of the exhibition.
I did quite a lot of fundraising in order for us to travel to Italy. One of the main things I did was offer $35 shares in my trip. In return each share holder got a share certificate, handmade postcard mailed back from Italy, a full colour newsletter after the trip and, by Christmas of this year, a 6×6″ painting around what we saw and learnt while away. In total I sold 57 shares, so took 60 or so handmade postcards in my suitcase and mailed them home from Cassino.
Once we got home and the dust had settled I wrote a newsletter and mailed off 57 copies. And then started on the process of creating 57 little works of art. I wanted them to have real meaning both for me and for the recipients, but at the same time I didn’t want to do something so complicated that my every waking moment was spent on them from now till Christmas Eve. I thought long and hard about what had most touched me, and how that could be represented. I came up with a work method that means each work is individual but part of a large series, so that I could create them in batches of 10 or so at a time. When each work goes out to its new owner it has a letter with it, and part of that letter says:
The enclosed mixed media work is based on more than 70 photos I took of poppies growing wild in the Lazio region, including around Monte Cassino Abbey. Many of the photos were blurred, taken from cars and trains as we sped through the landscape. For that reason the background is blurred; with a final large, in-focus poppy symbolising the way poppies became a focus for the artists. The large poppy is the same one used on the artwork I created for either my father or my best friend’s father, and so has special meaning to me. In addition, the poppies are important to me because they are such a strong symbol both in Italy and in New Zealand.
This weekend I put the finishing touches on work number 54; the final 3 works are going to be quite different and very individual for a number of reasons. This has been a huge journey for me. I am pleased to have fulfilled my obligations to all my shareholders with plenty of time to spare and continue to be amazed by how wonderfully generous people are. I also learnt a lot about how I create works by doing such a big number of works with one essential theme. Things I would not have discovered any other way I suspect. What a journey this has been…so, here are two of the final batch of ‘Italian Poppies’.
As many artists are discovering, some of the older sales websites now have so many artists on them that it’s easy to get a little (or a lot) lost in the crowd. I was with Etsy for ages and it worked well, but have seen no activity there for ages now. I also joined ArtFire but it didn’t work for me – it’s a lovely site, but I couldn’t get it to work for me. Recently one of my works sold almost as soon as it was dry, then another person contacted me wanting to purchase the same work. This got me to thinking about print, postcards etc; and that led me to RedBubble. So I have taken the plunge and signed up, with my Freezing Works series being offered as postcards, prints and posters. With Christmas not that far away, it’s certainly worth a shot. Why not pop across and take a look?
Here’s the work I could have sold twice in a couple of motnhs:
Cath Sheard Art 