Cath Sheard Art

Tag: abstract landscape

  • Far less abstract

    Far less abstract

    In my last post, I said I’d realised recent paintings are about the sea and water. The works I’ve been doing on canvas are abstract but, to my mind anyway, have a clear subject.

    At the weekend, I started using images of Mana Bay at Pātea Beach. I was playing with the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours, acrylic inks, and Neocolour II water soluble crayons. I follow Orla Stevens on YouTube and a recent video inspired me to work freer in how I mix my mixed media…

    I found myself doing some quite realistic work, or realistic by my standards anyway. It’s interesting to see my brain swap between abstract, semi-abstract and realism. I think the switch happens when a topic has really grabbed me and I’m in the early stages of exploring where I might go with it.

  • The sea is on my mind

    The sea is on my mind

    My paintings usually reflect the land, both seen and remembered. They’re abstract or semi-abstract works about vision, memory, and feelings. They reflect my inner landscape as much as the actual landscape.

    Sometimes I produce work after work without being sure what they’re about. I just keep going, confident I’ll know in time. There have been times when others have recognised the subject before me.

    A long time ago I was showing my sister’s ex-husband a series of works. He said, “so you’re painting the Pātea freezing works and cool stores”. I could see it once he’d named it. He’d worked there as a uni student and recognised the buildings.

    In other cases it’s only by painting and painting and painting that I come to know. A couple of years ago I consistently painted the same general landform and a shape that was clearly a cross or sword. Eventually I knew … long story.

    I started a large canvas a couple of weeks ago and add to it whenever I see/feel something it needs. Today I started a second, smaller canvas, and found myself using the same colour palette and marks. Why? What does it represent?

    It’s the sea! I feel there’s a couple of drivers. I’m working on Bird Flu prep at work, so thinking about sea birds, the shoreline, and impact on sea mammals. We’ve had some big storms, and I’ve been thinking about climate change and the way the sea is changing. My brain’s way of processing it is to get it out onto paint or canvas.

    How the it looked a couple of days ago
    How’s it’s looking now
    Early layers on a smaller work
  • Getting the vision clear

    Getting the vision clear

    This painting started with fairly angry marks in water soluble crayon and R&F oil drawing stick. I added acrylic ink and paint in yellow, orange and red. I left it to dry, unsure what was needed next.

    Eventually I added very directional, quite thick, blue and white lines. The paint needed to dry, so it’s been sitting for the last week – the oil drawing stick still hasn’t dried thanks to our winter weather.

    As I’ve been looking at it through the week I’ve felt more and more that it’s related to the winter weather, and the rough sea. Today I started calming down the yellow and orange areas, pushing them back so they’re more sky-like. It’s not there yet, but the direction feels clearer.

    This is how it was looking at the start of the weekend
    This is where it’s at as the weekend comes to a close
  • Art reflects the world

    Art reflects the world

    My art is usually about my inner landscape, the seen landscape, and the remembered landscape, reshaped into a unified whole. Except at the moment there’s not a lot of unity.

    The world is a bit of a bonfire. Ok, more than a bit. In many ways it more like a giant dumpster fire, with an endless fuel supply. There’s little unity between people, countries, regimes…

    What does that mean for my art? I’m still creating semi-abstract landscapes but there’s a chaotic energy about them. The land is fractured rather than peaceful. The landforms are bitsy and broken. I’m testing out using a limited triad colour palette, and that’s helping to create a little unity.

    On own land, on the other hand, is an oasis of calm … green paddocks, dense bush, a river, and contented cows. Is it out and out idyllic? No. There’s a lot of work to be done, and that’s ok. We have time, and it feels good to be out in nature away from the chaos of the world.

  • Enjoying the landscape

    Enjoying the landscape

    I’m looking at the landscape with no expectations about outcome: just thinking about shape, colour, light, combinations of materials. This year is about play, not outcomes. This relaxed attitude seems to be pushing me further in both directions – abstraction and realism.

    This one’s been out aside while I contemplate next steps