Cath Sheard Art

Tag: farm

  • Inspired by the land

    Inspired by the land

    At the beginning of May, Alan and I were fortunate to purchase 43 hectares of dairy grazing land. There are flat paddocks, steep hills down to a river, some QEII Trust, forest in pines and native trees, quite a few farm buildings but no house. Alan’s out there every day farming, and I pop out sort of in passing.

    The reality is I work full-time, go to the gym three days a week, and do my art. By the time I’ve done all that, I really don’t have time to farm as well. But for all that, I love seeing the land and knowing we are its caretakers.

    This weekend I decided to make some really small pieces of art as part of a ‘sharing some love & light’ project on BlueSky. I was working really small, 10.5cm square and 10x14cm with watercolour, pencil and NeoColor II crayons. What I realised is the land is very much inspiring what I do even though I’m not there very often.

  • 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.