Cath Sheard Art

Tag: abstraction

  • Mapping the land; experimenting with paint

    Mapping 2As you know from a couple of posts back, I have become increasingly fascinated with Aboriginal art, especially the idea of mapping the land. I’ve cuts lots of pictures out of magazines, downloaded art and maps from the net, made some sketches. Generally just started to build up some reference material in my new visual diary.

    Today I started in using some paint in my visual diary. Thinking about the shapes of Taranaki where I live, edges and boundaries, about topography and how we represent where we live. One painting I am happy enough with as a starting point, the other doesn’t even begin to express what I was looking for, it’s too – hang on, that would be giving the show away. It’s okay that I’m not happy with one of them, because the diary is just my sandpit for messing round in. Can you guess which one pleases me?

    Mapping the land 1

     

  • Delving into an obsession

    I’ve been interested in modern Aboriginal Art for the last 5 years or so, since being exposed to it as part of the theory side of my art study with TLC. Being in New Zealand, there’s little to be seen in the flesh,  and really only the internet for exploration. Any books available tend to be about older, more traditional forms.

    And then along came this – a beautiful new glossy magazine dedicated to Aboriginal Art and Artists. It has lots of beautiful full-colour photographs, scholarly articles, gallery adverts and more. Completely stunning. The second issue has just come out, that’s the one shown here, and it’s every bit as good as the first.

     aaa mag cover copy

    Did I mention that it’s around 180 glorious pages? And that I’m not on commission! Anyway, it has got me thinking about why I like modern Aboriginal Art and the short answer is – I’m not sure. The easy answer that springs to mind is joyful, colourful abstraction. But then I love some of the simpler, tonal works that have a Rothko feel. So it’s more than just colour, or abstraction or joy. I also love the aerial map feel of many of the works.

    In the last few years I have worked on numerous series, obsessions really, such as the full moon, orange, shadows and pears. Only a tiny fraction of that study and obsession has ever been shown to anyone, even via my blog. And much of it is ongoing.

    Now I think I might have to put all that aside for a while and delve into this obsession. Not that is is new, because it is not, but because suddenly I have this resource that I can study, pull apart, replicate, dissect and pore over. I suspect I’ll end up sewing, painting, drawing, collaging etc my way through the images until I begin to understand just what it is that draws me. I don’t want to produce Aboriginal Art – how can I when I am not an Aborigine? That would be mere copying. But if I can understand what draws me to it, I can transfer that joy to my own art practice.

  • A whisper of grass

    I have been working towards a couple of exhibitions, including the annual NZ Art Guild exhibition “Out of the Blue”, and have finally finished everything I need to get done. The last works will be in Monday’s courier. Yahoo!

    This is the last work to be signed and made ready for hanging. It celebrates the wonderful warm colours of the land here in New Zealand as the first spring growth of grass pops through in the paddocks around us. It’s more about how I remember that time of year, and how it makes me feel, than about the actual look of the landscape. It is 10×10″ acrylic on gallery wrap canvas.

    A whisper of grass
    A whisper of grass

  • Mark making and working loose

    Yep, more in the “working loose and having fun” series. It feels so good to be back to mark making – something we explored extensively in the first year of my art course, must be five years back now. I studied with the Learning Connexion here in New Zealand, extramurally, for four years. In the end I completed an Advanced Diploma of Art & Creativity (Honours). It felt like such an achievement, and really pushed me to learn new things. Anyway…

    Having moved away from mark making to all kinds of other processes, I have come full circle. And yet I am not back where I started from. I am back to the same technique, but with a very different end result, and am loving it. I regularly check Katherine Tyrrell’s blog Making a Mark here; she writes in depth about mark making and has great links to blogs of interest.

    So expect to see a bit more of this style for now, especially as Katherine Tyrrell’s recent post on working in series really got me thinking about working more consistently on one theme. Mark making – like coming home after a long day at work, it just feels good.

  • Working loose

    It’s been a long week at work. School holidays are always a very busy time in a library, but we have 6 new computers with free internet so the teens are swarming! We normally have about 500 people through the doors each week. This week we hit just over 1,000 – not bad when you consider the population of Patea is approx 1100. And to make life even more “interesting” this week two of my four staff were off sick. I just hope they’re resting up well.

    My rest has come in the form of painting time, shut away in my art room with no people, no teens, no music – just me and my paints. If I can’t sleep, I can always paint, and paint I have. I have been trying to work looser and also trying to lift my colours a bit. I do tend to paint quite dark paintings, and am making a real attempt at more cheerful work. This one is 10×10″ on gallery wrap canvas.