Cath Sheard Art

Tag: art journal

  • Enduring themes

    Enduring themes

    My best friend’s granddaughter is arty and discovering oil pastels. I’ve been finding papers for her to try and, in my art room search, found a couple of old Sennelier sketchbooks. They didn’t suit how I work, so had been abandoned. The pages are perforated so I’ve removed my old work and Sandra’s handing the sketchbooks onto J.

    The pages I removed were mainly gelli plate prompts. It looks like I was using masks to print directly onto the pages. What’s interesting is, despite being perhaps 6 years old, there’s many of the same shapes and marks I use now.

    I’ve been cutting the pieces up and using them for collage in a small 5×5” journal. I like seeing that history reimagined.

  • Wanderlust Weeks 6, 7 & 8

    Playing catchup with posting these. Week 6 was a modified colour wheel with Shay Michelle. I discovered although turquoise and similar shades are my fav accents colours, I have very few collage papers in that colour range. I need to get out by large gelli plate and fix that!

    Week 7 with LaQuisha Hall was exactly the kind of layout I hoped doing Wanderlust would get me back to. I used to do a lot of this type of art journaling and have become more product driven. This page is about me wanting to be a safe space for people, and wanting my libraries to be a safe space for everyone as the world gets harder to negotiate.

    Week 8 with Claudette Hasenjager was a tricky one, I had to push through the colour wheel exercise, and I’m pleased I did. I discovered I’m incapable of working tidily for too long and struggle to add enough white, and overdo the black. I expected to love the Ruby combinations, but they were a bit dark, while the Rouge were a bit dull, but the DWM Raspberry are perfect. The layout, based on the fav colour wheel, is about speaking out for myself and others, speaking up even if worried, and then going aggravation of my vocal cord injury.

  • Week 5 – self portrait

    Week 5 – self portrait

    This week’s Wanderlust25 lesson was taught by Shawn Petite, who I’ve followed for years. The project involved journaling, prepping the page with collage papers and ephemera that have meaning to you, and using washes of colour that relate in some way to what you wrote. The last step was a self portrait. I won’t go into all the details with it being a paid course.

    We started by doing a practice colour wheel. I chose to go slightly off the primary colours, and used DWM Lemon, Lapis and Ruby, with DWM Umber and White, and Liquitex Parchment. It’s not a combination I’d tried on a colour wheel before and I like it.

    People who know me well will understand why “voice” is the word I ended up with to summarise my journaling…

    My initial layers, there’s journaling under the collage.
    My colour wheel, complete with a smear thanks to Sabrina’s paw!
    My completed page.

  • Wanderlust25

    I’ve often started my year by participating in a paid class or worldwide project. It’s a great way to kickstart the art year. I’ve done the Documented Life Project & Creative Jump Start a number of times, along with ‘100 days of …’ and a few one-off classes. I haven’t done anything for about 4 years as Tony’s health, and some other changes, meant I just didn’t have the bandwidth.

    Part way through last year I decided to commit to something for 2025 and tossed up between Wanderlust25 and Fodder School. I went with Wanderlust25, in the hope it might move me away from being brand/product driven in my art journals. It started a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I finally set up my journal and completed week 1 with Iris Fritschi-Cussens.

    As with all paid classes I’ll share what I made, but not specifics around techniques and thinking. I’m delighted with this first spread – it already feels like I’ve gone back to 10 years ago when I was more process driven. You can see it below, along with details close-ups.

    The writing is a reminder to myself that it’s ok to rest when I need to. My health is a bit dodgy yet I very much resist resting. Talking to my sister yesterday I realised it’s because Mum used to make me rest when she was tired and I wasn’t, so I see it as punishment!

  • The promise of a new journal

    The blank pages of a new journal offer the promise of a fresh start. Maybe this journal will inspire different work. Maybe this journal will magically improve my drawing skills. Maybe this is the journal that will help transform vague ideas into a cohesive series.

    Dina Wakley MEdia had two 6×6 journals I loved working in but, sadly, they are both out of production. One was very heavy white watercolour paper, the other heavy kraft stock. I have a couple of the kraft tucked away, but none of the white.

    I’ve got lighter weight journals I like working in, but also want something with very sturdy pages. A couple of artists have reviewed the Seawhite journals and said good things about them. I hadn’t seen them in New Zealand – until this week. I found them at The Drawing Room in Christchurch so ordered one straight away. I’m excited to try it out this weekend.