Cath Sheard Art

Blog

  • Being in flow

    Creating can be a struggle. Marks look wrong, paint colours don’t sit right, shapes feel awkward – the whole thing feels forced. Ugh!

    Then there’s magic days when my hands, brain & soul are connected, and works come together easily. The more time I spend creating, the more likely I am to be in flow where I intuitively know the next step.

    Is there a down side to being in flow? Not really, except I run out of room, have glue all over my hands and deep blue paint on my pale pink sweatshirt because I forgot to put on my apron!

    Occasionally a non-artist will comment painting must be easy if you finish a piece so quickly. The time spent on an individual piece is a small part of the act of creating. I completed a 4-year Advanced Diploma of Art & Creativity (Honours) in 2008 and have spent countless hours creating since then. I watch art videos, study art books, work on colour mixing, practice my skills. All of that is part of the process of creating every single piece.

    Starting a small mixed media series using paint and hand painted collage papers
    15cm mixed media using paint. & collage
    Working large as the start of a commission piece.

  • (not) drawn to drawing

    At the beginning of the year I set myself the goal of relearning the skill of drawing. When I studied art we had to draw throughout the first year and I was ok enough to get through. I decided improving my drawing skills would benefit my art generally, so dedicated a notebook to regular practice.

    Almost 5 months in I know exactly why I haven’t been drawing for the last few years. It brings me zero joy. Zero! I make mark with crayons, pencils etc, and love it. Realistic drawing … nope. So I’ve stopped. Art is my passion, not my career, so if it’s not bringing me joy, I don’t do it.

    I’m currently reading ‘Drawing in the present tense’ by Claire Gilman and Roger Malbert – it’s a fascinating look at contemporary drawing.

  • The payback for struggling

    Yesterday I blogged about six small pieces I was working on that were awkward and wrong. I described that base layer is an invitation to play. What I didn’t say is, and I have nothing to lose.

    Tonight I grabbed collage paper scraps, glue, acrylic paint and followed my instincts. Not thinking, only doing. Are these finished, or good yet? No. But they’re better, and I think I’m going to like the final results. Sometimes having nothing to lose is a bonus.

  • When it’s a struggle

    Sometimes I sit down at my desk and the art flows – the skies look stormy, the hills have the right amount of light, and the finished pieces feel cohesive. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights!

    I masked the edges on half a dozen small pieces of heavy watercolour paper, grabbed watercolour paints & water soluble pencils, and my favourite brushes. And then … nothing. The marks didn’t feel right, the paint didn’t act like I wanted, the colours felt muddy. None of the pieces gave me any joy, so I stepped away.

    Why does that happen? Sometimes it’s because I haven’t warmed up in some way, maybe with a few minutes in an art journal, so my actions are awkward. Other times I’ve got a definite outcome in mind and it’s stopping me working in my natural way. Occasionally it’s because I’ve been watching a lot of one artist on YouTube and, without meaning to, I’m trying to make their art, not my art.

    Will these pieces go to waste? Heck no! I’ll work over the top of them, adding crayon and acrylic, and possible collage, because a base layer I don’t like is an invitation to play.

  • Watch this space

    A year or two back I tried having a ‘proper’ art website but it didn’t work me. I want to try again, but in a way that’s manageable. I decided to get a different domain name to my blog, but use WordPress as I’m familiar with it.

    I got the domain name then somehow attached it to my existing blog. That doesn’t seem to be reversible so I’m running with it. Apparently I need a responsible adult supervising me…

    This means two things; my blog will be more art, and less life, than in the past. That said, art informs my life, and life inspires my art., so there’ll always be a mix. It also means over the coming days I’ll be adding works for sale onto my blog, probably as a seperate page. So, watch this space…