I love seeing nature but don’t necessarily enjoy being in it – it depends on the circumstances. If I can take my time, and feel safe, I’m happy to go for a decent walk such as Hokitika Gorge.
I enjoy a nice garden and flowers, but I’m no good at growing things. I never have been, despite Dad being a good gardener. I’m staying with Alan in Hokitika at the moment and he grows orchids. I love seeing them bloom and finding out about the different types.
I was talking with my good friend Penny the other night about white space in our artwork. We often use similar colours and methods but our processes and end results are very different.
My art journals are about “downloading my head”l. Often colour and writing fills the page to overflowing – chaos and emotion in 2D. But my abstract landscape art is different; it’s generally my calm, peaceful view to the seen world. I don’t aim to record, but to respond.
Part of that response is a strong need for quiet space, usually white or maybe Titan Buff. I was working on 12 A4 mixed media and, when I sat back, realised I’d put too much colour on too quickly. Tomorrow I’ll look at them in the daylight. Some very strong darks might increase the sense of light, or they might need white paint added back.
I can talk to library customers about anything they need info on. I can write fairly easily but, when it comes to tricky emotional stuff, speaking often eludes me. I’ve been known to text or Viber people if I can’t get the words out.
I started watching the Dr Gabor Matè movie “The wisdom of trauma” this week but emotionally can’t deal it at the moment. I’ll come back to it though, because his thinking on trauma and addiction speaks to me.
One of the ways I deal with emotions, and addictive personality, is through my art journals. I can say anything in my journals without fear of judgement. I often share my work, so make the writing illegible if I need to, or cover up the writing.
This is a Dylusions Dyalog that’s almost ready for me to start writing in. I’ve used Shimmer paint and spray on the pages, then added collage. I like the small format as it’s quick to work in when I just want to get some thoughts down.
On Sunday Penny and I “worked large” at Left Bank Art Gallery. I worked quite slowly for me, adding pencil, paint, and collage layer by layer – working across 8 panels at once. Next adding marks with NeoPastels, oil pastels and Inktense and finally a Posca for white splashes. Between each layer I sat and looked and thought … sometimes I work without stepping away at all, but not this time. I think the extra space around me encouraged a different way of working.
These are cellphone photos in changeable light so not totally representative but good enough for now. The photo without white edges is detail from the main work, which is 50x76cm on Fabriano Artistico paper, so will need flattening a bit.
I’ve always loved mark making; it’s generally how I add my strongest contrasts. I’m excited about these works, which use the colours of Hokitika Gorge but (to me anyway) have a feel of Mana Bay in Patea as a safe harbour.
I spent today “working large” with Penny Kirk at Left Bank Art Gallery in Greymouth. It was amazing! I had so much fun working alongside Penny – we use similar colours, and even materials, but have very different processes and outcomes. The opportunity to work at a much bigger scale was great; I haven’t worked at this scale since my last year at The Learning Connexion in Wellington.
Tomorrow I’ll try to photograph the finished works and share them. In other news, Tony had a better day and has enjoyed doing his paint by numbers. He’s not feeling 100% tonight but that’s nothing new…
Cath Sheard Art 