Cath Sheard Art

Tag: exhibitions

  • Pausing, resetting, something!

    Pausing, resetting, something!

    I’m not sure what to call it, but I’m taking 2026 off from selling my art, perhaps even from exhibiting. There’s a number of factors driving the decision, which has been forming for a while.

    I’ve been selling on Felt for a couple of years and love it as a platform, but it does best when you drive people there via social media and I’m on social media less and less.

    Sales this Christmas have been poor, which makes the time and effort involved not worth it. There’s other things I’d rather be doing with my time if the payback isn’t there.

    The rise of AI, image theft, and all that bad stuff, has seen me deactivate FaceBook, delete Instagram and TikTok, and so on. I’m still on Bluesky as it feels safer, for now anyway. Leaving those sites decreased my audience, but it’s at a time when TikTok is changing art marketing so it’s performative, which I hate.

    As a side note, there’s increasing online dissatisfaction with how TikTok is making adult colouring, reading and other relaxing hobbies into performative over-consumption.

    What’s my plan for 2026? It’s loose yet, but my main goal is to spend the year exploring new directions, rediscovering what I love most when saleability isn’t a factor, and create for the joy of it. I’ll do online courses, explore various media, fill endless journals with experiments. Who knows what directions I’ll discover along the way.

    I’ve been making gelli prints ready for a course I’m starting 5 January
    I needed to make around 60 A5 papers, and ended up with over 280!

  • A season of rest

    After an exhibitions, and between bodies of work, I often have a period of time when I don’t make much work outside of my journals. I explore ideas and, sometimes, think I’ve found the next thread, only to discover the idea doesn’t hold my attention long enough. That quiet time allows me to reflect and explore.

    There are also times when life means I don’t have the mental space, or physical energy, to create new work. After Mum died I didn’t make anything significant for a couple of years. We’d looked after her for 14 years and I was tired, but also grateful we’d had the opportunity to care for her.

    I’m in one of those spaces now. Tony is very unwell, some of you know what’s happening but I won’t share it here. I don’t have the emotional bandwidth for creating new work. I took a small art journal and some supplies into the resthome so I could create while I sit with him. I was essentially making the same thing over and over … my mind doesn’t have the space for creativity. I’m so grateful Alan cooks dinner, looks after things, and makes me laugh.

    Yet I hate sitting and doing nothing. I get fidgety and frustrated. Say hello to adult colouring! Am I being super fussy and doing lots of shading? Nope. These are about the process, not the final result, and I’m pleased I have them available to do.