Cath Sheard Art

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  • Bones

    The NZ Art Guild challenge that finished a week or so ago started with a photograph of some bones. We could do anything we liked, and boy, did I like. Here’s the details of the two works I produced for the challenge.

    Original photo ref of bones

    1. Title: I love Anthro Bones #1.  Medium: Fluid acrylic on cream colourfix paper, 9×11.5″
    Inspiration: I knew straight away there were amazing hearts in the bones so I took the photo down to stencil setting in photoshop to simplify the edges and make the hearts shapes stand out.

    anthro bones 1

    2. Title: I love Anthro Bones #2. Medium: Watercolour, gel pen and oil pastels on Daler-Rowney 300gsm rough watercolour paper, 8.5×11.5″
    Inspiration: In photoshopping the image to stencil to see the hearts betters, I decided the image needed some “bling” so I used white gel pen and neon colours to give the heart of the bones some sparkle.

    anthro bones 2

  • A good question, and the answer…

    Diane asked “Is it too personal to ask what your living space is and what modifications you have made for your Mum?” Good question Diane.

    We moved into Mum’s 3 bedroom house with her when she first got really sick. We shifted her from the main bedroom to the smaller one, not to get the “good” room, but so that she is right next to the toilet at night.

    We turned the tiny bathroom into a ‘wet room’ so that her caregivers can shower her without worrying about mess and shower curtains etc. The hospital system provided rails in the bathroom and toilet and a fancy chair for her at the kitchen table so she can get up easily. They also put a good rail at the back porch so she can get up and down the 4 steps to the house. We may need a ramp at the front door eventually.

    We turned the second bedroom into an office / art room so that I have space to escape to and relax in. That’s as important as the other modifications!

    We bought Mum an electronic bed so that when she’s at her sickest we can adjust the slope to help her breathing, sit her up to eat, adjust it to make a bump under her knees to ease her back if she’s uncomfortable.

    Mum gifted the house to us, with my sister’s approval, so that when Mum goes we are not suddenly home less. My sister thinks that is fair after, at this stage, 11 years of caregiving.

    So we haven’t had to do anything too dramatic thank goodness, and it has worked out well.

  • 85th birthday party

    We had Mum’s 85th birthday party yesterday with family and friends. Her half brother John, and half sister Margaret, were able to join us which was great. Mum was in her 60s when she discovered she’s adopted and then found out she had siblings. Incredible and such a blessing in her old age. We had cake and balloons and laughter – and I was able to publicly thank the people who help us keep Mum at home with us. We sure couldn’t do it on our own.  As I have said before, sure I get tired, sure sometimes I want my own life all to myself – but I know this is the best thing for Mum and I – we have a bond that is so close, and this time together is a gift not all daughters get.

  • Wonderful gift from Jeanette Jobson

    When Watermarks first started I visited all the contributing artists blogs, including Jeanette Jobson at Illustrated Life.  Watermarks is a small community of artists who make art from water. They all sketch, draw and/or paint water – the sea, the coastline, beaches, rivers, streams, waterfalls, fountains – in all contexts, styles, genres and media.

    Anyway, just by commenting on one of Jeanette’s post on her blog, I won a watercolour portrait done by her. How generous is that? Boy, was I excited!  With Mum’s 85th birthday coming up I decided it would be great to have Jeanette paint a portrait of Mum, so I emailed off some photos.

    Guess what turned up in the mail yesterday, all the way from Newfoundland? Not one, but two beautiful watercolour portraits of Mum. (my scans are not doing the work justice, sorry about that, can’t seem to fix) So now I am even more excited, because it means I can give one to Mum and one to my sister Ailsa.

    Jeanette is a generous and talented artist; I am thrilled to have some of her work way down here in New Zealand.

    Watercolour portrait of Pam Barker by Jeanette Jobson
    Watercolour portrait of Pam Barker by Jeanette Jobson
    Portrait of Mum by Jeanette Jobson
    Portrait of Mum by Jeanette Jobson

  • Getting back out there

    I haven’t entered much lately, or applied for many exhibitions either really, compared with what I have done in the last year or three. I’m not sure why. Maybe I was tired, listening to too much recession talk and being a bit lazy. Today I decided it was time I got over myself and got back out there. So I have …

    I have booked exhibition spaces, applied for art awards, put my name forward here and there. To keep track of all the due dates etc I have printed out a new timetable that’s now on my whiteboard directly above my work desk. No more excuses!timetable