Cath Sheard Art

Tag: landscape

  • #cjs20 day 23

    The artist for day 23 of #cjs20 was John DuVal, a painter who specialises in watercolour. He captured the light and the feel, more than the details, and that appeals to me. Initially I wasn’t going to try it, even though I do landscape painting. Tony asked why not and I didn’t have a good reason! I’m pleased I did because actually his approach suits me.

    I visited Pukakaiki, on the West Coast of the South Island,  in December with Alan and was fascinated by the rock formations. This small watercolour is based on one of the photos I took.

    day 23 John DuVal

  • Gelli print landscapes

    I’ve got the urge to start stitching again, so I’ve been reading the Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn books, including Stitchscapes. Looking at their sketchbook pages reminded me how much I enjoy creating abstracted landscapes so this afternoon I got out my Gelli Plate and some of the favourite Atelier paints. I taped my Gelli plate onto a piece of copier paper so I could line up multiple pulls and got to work. I’ve done 9 prints on good paper, and 4 on copier paper that are just from cleaning the plate – these often turn out really well because of all the tiny bits of colour that get picked up.

    Most of the prints have 4 or 5 full or partial layers of paint, and all have the sun in them using Atelier’s Rich Gold series 4. This is a lovely metallic to use – it’s not as harsh as some metallics. Alongside my trusty old paints I’ve been trying out some new ones that I got sent as part of a sample kit; Liquitex heavy body Green Gold and Quinacridone Magenta. They are both really nice to use – they’re single pigment transparent colours and flow so well. I can see me moving to Liquitex from Atelier if I ever use up my paint stash!

    These prints may stay as they are or I may try adding a little stitching to some of them, just to see how it feels.

    landscape 1 landscape 2 landscape 3 landscape 4

  • Progress shots

    For once I am remembering to take rough ‘n ready photos as I work through the many, often ugly duckling, stages of a mixed media painting. The photos are quick, crooked and poorly lit, but are enough to show the process I work through, and are in order.

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  • Signatures for a swap

    I’ve just finished my entries for the International Signature Swap 2013 organised by Erika Husselmann. It was such fun last year that I couldn’t resist doing it again. The rules have changed a bit from previous years, you can find all the details on the Art Swappers website. I’ve used Hahnemuhle 140gsm drawing paper, and started by adding a few layers of Golden acrylics with by Gelli Plate. Once that was dry and I had spent some time looking at them, I worked back into them with more paint, and Derwent Art Bars. I love the idea of the Art Bars but, in practice, I find I remove what I’ve done more times that I leave it on. I really to prefer adding extra marks with paint or pen. So, here’s what I created last night:

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  • Looking at the landscape

    I am still adjusting to all the time I have now that Mum has died. Six months on I find the evening has vanished and, all too often, I have achieved nothing. Yet when she was alive, I juggled it all, and found art time. I think I’m still catching up on rest, and learning to live with the gap in our lives.

    So one of the things I am slowly doing is going back to some of the things that have been good in my art in the past – like exploring the landscape to see just how far from a ‘real’ landscape you can get before it no longer says landscape. I’d be been using my Gelli Plate, foam stamps with words on them, and a bunch of bubble wrap, to get messy landscapey layers. What I love is that with printing you get bits of paint left over and they come out in a layer later on, adding more colors and texture.

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