Cath Sheard Art

Tag: landscape

  • Patea Freezing Works – Metalwork VI

    This is the latest in the Patea Freezing Works series. I haven’t done much on the series for a couple of weeks as I have been busy with work for the LEGATO exhibition in Italy. Tony and I are both going over for the exhibition as it is such an exciting opportunity. Anyway, back to the Freezing Works.  This painting is based on a shot by local photographer Phu Tran; you can see his amazing photos on Flickr.

    This work is 40×40″ in acrylics on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and Etsy.

    The Freezing Works as I knew it is no more! The demolition work has been going on for over 3 months now and most of the above-ground buildings have gone. Most significant of all, in terms of the look of the site, the chimney has gone. This was quite controversial, for reasons I won’t bother going into, for now at least. You can see in the photo below, taken by Sandra Robinson, just what a mammoth structure the chimney really was.

    So, increasingly, this series of works is from photos and from memory, rather than from photos and a daily view of the works. This isn’t a bad thing; the point of the series was always about the “remembered landscape”.

  • Old house – latest Art Guild challenge

    You might remember that a few posts back I showed you the reference photo for the latest NZ Art Guild Challenge. At the time, I was sure it was the colours that would inspire me – and I was right. I tackled the subject twice today; once in acrylics and once with ink, oil pastels, soft pastels and acrylics. Neither are an accurate representation of the image and in one I have moved windows, resized some parts, generally messed with it a bit. In the second I was thinkng mainly about colour blocks, the Impressionists, ghosts (don’t ask!) and light.

    For me the NZ Art Guild challenges are a great opportunity to tackle a subject, style or material/s I might not normally go for; a chance to have a creative play with no real pressure. So here are my two most recent entries:

    001

    002

  • Does your art have a particular style?

    I recently purchased Alyson Stanfield’s book “I’d rather be in the studio” because I want to sharpen up the business side of my art. Why Alyson and why her book? Some of the artists I follow who seem to really be doing the business, as well as making the art, recommend Alsyon. For me, that personal recommendation is important. One of those artists is Tina Mammoser, The Cycling Artist; reading about the work she puts in to her business, while retaining her passion, is very inspiring.

    One of the things Alyson talks about is recognisable style. I stopped reading at that point and grabbed by visual diary for some note taking. Do I have a real style yet? Do I want to have one? If I do have one, do I even know what it is? If I don’t, should I be thinking about marketing yet or not? These are a hundred other questions…

    Today I spent some time looking at photos of my paintings and through my visual diaries – a sort of virtual tour of my art history. Looking for a style; my style. Did I find one? I am not sure yet. Maybe. There are certainly some pointers along the way. What would the words be that describe that style? Again, not sure, but the beginnings of some words are there. Words like mark making, expressive, abstract, landscape, orange, transparent.

    So then I thought, okay, of all your paintings is there one that you really feel represents what you want to achieve? The answer night me different tomorrow, but for today anyway the answer is this one. 10×10″ acrylic on canvas, long since sold via a local gallery to a Wellington-based New Zealand film director. And no, I don’t think it was Peter Jackson! (although it may have been for all I know) Why this one – the quality of the marks, the landscape is there but not explicit, the sense of light on the land.

    Where am I at then? Thinking, thinking, thinking – and keeping notes as I go. It’s a good process.

    remembered_landscape #4 lg

  • Mapping the land; experimenting with paint

    Mapping 2As you know from a couple of posts back, I have become increasingly fascinated with Aboriginal art, especially the idea of mapping the land. I’ve cuts lots of pictures out of magazines, downloaded art and maps from the net, made some sketches. Generally just started to build up some reference material in my new visual diary.

    Today I started in using some paint in my visual diary. Thinking about the shapes of Taranaki where I live, edges and boundaries, about topography and how we represent where we live. One painting I am happy enough with as a starting point, the other doesn’t even begin to express what I was looking for, it’s too – hang on, that would be giving the show away. It’s okay that I’m not happy with one of them, because the diary is just my sandpit for messing round in. Can you guess which one pleases me?

    Mapping the land 1

     

  • Finished :-) Landings #1

    Landings #1
    Landings #1

    Finally, despite distractions such as a sick dog, I have finished and varnished a painting I started weeks ago. This is 10×10″ on gallery wrap canvas. It was done in the heat of summer, thinking about our beautiful landscape. It will be for sale on ArtFire very shortly.