Cath Sheard Art

Tag: acrylic

  • New paintings – sunset at the tidal pool

    I have just sent a new series of four paintings off to the “all things small and beautiful” exhibition in Tauranga. All works had to be 10×10″ – one of my favorite sizes to work in. The four works are all very similar in color and style and are all titled ‘sunset at the tidal pool’. They are loosely based on memories of seeing Dale Chihuly glass at an exhibition Tony and I went to in Hamilton on our honeymoon some 15 years ago. The sheer wonder of seeing his work in the flesh is still with me today. Dale’s incredible work can be seen here.

  • Patea Freezing Works – Old Pipework IV

    I have had the last week off work to concentrate on paintings for the upcoming LEGATO exhibition in Italy. So of course my new museum-grade canvases took a while to arrive… I used the time to do some more Patea Freezing Works paintings. Here is the latest to get a signature and coat of varnish. I love the rusty old red pipes against the purple buildings and mossy old walls.

    Old Pipes IV is 16×12″ in acrylic on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and on Etsy.

  • Patea Freezing Works – Metalwork VI

    This is the latest in the Patea Freezing Works series. I haven’t done much on the series for a couple of weeks as I have been busy with work for the LEGATO exhibition in Italy. Tony and I are both going over for the exhibition as it is such an exciting opportunity. Anyway, back to the Freezing Works.  This painting is based on a shot by local photographer Phu Tran; you can see his amazing photos on Flickr.

    This work is 40×40″ in acrylics on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and Etsy.

    The Freezing Works as I knew it is no more! The demolition work has been going on for over 3 months now and most of the above-ground buildings have gone. Most significant of all, in terms of the look of the site, the chimney has gone. This was quite controversial, for reasons I won’t bother going into, for now at least. You can see in the photo below, taken by Sandra Robinson, just what a mammoth structure the chimney really was.

    So, increasingly, this series of works is from photos and from memory, rather than from photos and a daily view of the works. This isn’t a bad thing; the point of the series was always about the “remembered landscape”.

  • Freezing works: lights on, no one’s in XV

    After a bit of a break to attend to other things, I have photographed another painting that I finished 10 days or so ago. As with the others, it is based on photos of Patea Freezing Works. This one is a bit different. I was unsure about it, so was letting it sit for a while. People who have seen it have been really positive so I think I’m calling it done. It is 16×16″ acrylic on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my Etsy.

    The demolition of the works is progressing quickly; most of the major structures above ground are no more. Except for the chimney, whose fate has yet to be decided…

  • Patea Freezing Works – On the grid

    Although I finished this one last weekend, I haven’t had time to blog about it. So here, we are, back to Saturday – I’m up nice and early and into it. The photo this is based on was taken some distance from the site by Phu Tran. One of the reasons I like this shot is the strong lines of the chimney and power poles through the centre of the scene. As I keep painting the freezing works over and over again I can feel what I am painting, the how I am painting it, is becoming more focused. The color palette remains the same, even how I apply the paint has stayed the same, but the lines and final marks are becoming much more of a focus for me.  Some of the earliest works now feel a little ‘soft’ to me and may yet get some tweaking.

    Patea Freezing Works : on the grid

    It is the middle of summer here; hot and muggy most days. I am not using my art room at the moment because it is far too hot out there; the walls are iron and there’s no ceiling, just the roof, so nothing to deflect the heat. I use our third bedroom as an office for the newspaper we publish. I have commandeered the desk for painting. I have a table-top easel, a roll of paper towels, old wash clothes, a small box of paints, a jar of brushes and a giant bucket of water. Oh, and my color theory notebook with all my color experiments in it and a pile of canvas – I’m about to move from 16×16″ to 20×20″.

    So, this one is 16×16″ acrylic on canvas, and is for sale on here on Etsy.