In October & November I had work in the Awagami International mini print exhibition in Japan. I received a highly commended and the work, Summer nights in the New Zealand bush, sold.
Yesterday I came home to a package from Japan – a lovely certificate, the exhibition catalogue with my name listed under Juror’s Choice, a letter and some beautiful paper to print on.
The exhibition had 1,067 artists from 58 countries enter 1,524 works and over 1,200 people visited the gallery. I’ll be entering again in 2027.
In my last blog post I said I was pleasantly surprised by the desire to create so soon after Tony’s death. I’m still creating, taking it gently but feeling good about it.
People ask how I am … I’m ok. Am I great? No, but it’d be a bit weird if I was. I describe it as appropriately sad. The sadness comes and goes – after 33 years together, and all the years of slowly losing Tony, that feels ok.
So I’m being kind to myself and creating with low expectations, doing what I feel like in the moment. I’m feeling inspired by Welsh castles, a theme I return to semi-regularly, often accompanied by masts, swords and what’s probably blood. It is what it is…
In these current works, which are about A3 size, it feels important to work in overlapping layers. Why? I don’t know yet, but I’m happy to trust the process.
Today I popped into Ethel Anne Antiques in Hāwera in search of more old music books, as I’ve had so much fun with the ones I got a couple of weeks back. I bought some but, even more exciting, are the old lace doily.
I knew straight away they’d be interesting on the gel plate. Sure enough, they were. The heavy lace one isn’t much use, but the finer ones are amazing. I used mainly Golden Fluid Acrylics and Hahnemuhle Sumi-e paper to print on because it lifts the prints beautifully. I definitely prefer the softer colours for these over the brighter ones.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these yet. I’ll probably use them as collage in mixed media works. I’m tempted to create some multi layer prints that are complete in their own right.
Here’s what I have done so far, including a couple of close up shots.
I was excited to get a couple of Stillman & Birn Delta journals on sale – they’re expensive here in New Zealand so had high hopes. I chose 7×7” Delta because they have heavy weight 270gsm which the website says is ‘ideal for wet and dry media, including watercolour and ink’.
I taped every second page because I like a clean border, but also enjoy a more organic edge sometimes. I want to love my new journals, but don’t. The paper pills easily when you use water, so washes have spots in them. Even with heating the tape prior to pulling it, the paper tears easily. They’re just not great for the way I work, and at that weight I expect the paper to be more robust.
Putting that aside, I visited Ethel Anne Antiques in Hāwera today. They’re running a pop-up shop with 60% off. I picked up four music score books for just $12. I’ll be going back to find maps, more music and maybe an old textbook or two. The owner is lovely, and was happy to chat about what I’d be doing with the music. Like me, she loves seeing old things given new life, rather than ending up in the rubbish.
I came home and gelli printed on a few pages to get started, then grabbed one of my collage landscape journals. New papers inspired me and I completed about 8 pages in a row. I can see some themes emerging, as is often the case when I work in a hurry.
I have entered the Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition in Japan. Prints have to be on A4 washi paper. I made a few prints on copier paper to get used to the size, then swapped to washi. I loved the first prints but keep going for another two or three weeks because “it needs to be my best print”.
I ended up with around 35 prints, and 25 of those were worth considering. I laid them out on the floor and quickly got down to 10, then 6. I showed them on Facebook and Bluesky, and people told me their top pick.
So did I package up the one that got the most votes? No, far from it. I need to send the worth that speaks to me, and that represents my art, and that’s the only criteria that matters aside from the regulations. The piece I chose was one of the very first I did. I should have know that fiddling around would not be helpful!
Cath Sheard Art 