Cath Sheard Art

Tag: Michelle Ward

  • Poppies, and stencils

    When Mum passed away recently a friend gave us some flowers which included poppies and seed heads – awesome! I have been fascinated with poppies since we visited Italy in 2010 and use them a lot in my artwork. Having the real thing on display in the kitchen inspired my to take a bunch of photos, do some drawings, and finally cut some stencils. Huge thanks to Michelle Ward for lessons learnt while doing the Crusades – without your lessons I doubt I would have managed it. I have now got stencils for two flowers, and two different heads plus the masks for all but the big poppy. I couldn’t work out the bridges to keep it in one piece but may have another shot at it yet.

    I have had a quick play with them on newsprint and am happy, so tomorrow I’ll start playing in earnest. Earlier in the year I was given some lovely old, never used and in mint condition, prints of  John Abbott’s The insects of Georgia produced by the Alexander Turnbull Library. I am going to be participating in Legato 2013 and have a vague plan in mind involving the prints, transfers of photos of Dad from the war, and the poppy stencils. We’ll see…

    (the images are wrinkly because I am too impatient to wait for the ink to dry before scanning)

    image0-002 image0-001 image0

  • A little Christmas house

    I am a regular follow of Tim Holtz’s blog and have been looking at the Christmas decorations people make with considerable envy, although I admit most of them are way too fiddly for my patience level. The other day I was in @yourlotto in Hawera looking at the KaiserCraft mdf projects and there was a small fairy castle. It’s only about 5″ square and $11 – perfect! Finally, a wee Christmas decoration I felt I could tackle.

    I painted the inside white and then stenciled a pattern in silver onto it using one of Michelle Ward’s stencils. I covered the outside using KaiserCraft “Just Believe” 6.5″ papers, and had plenty left over for making more Christmas cards too. I added some die cuts and a mountain of Kindy Glitz round the tops of the spires to look like snow or icicles. I don’t usually use Kindy Glitz but I loved it for this project.

    The only problem I ran into was that I painted and papered over the tabs that hold it together and then they wouldn’t fit into the slots, so I had to sand them back. Other than that, it’s the first time I have tried one of KaiserCraft’s mdf projects and I’m sold on them.

    My icy fairy castle is now on our mantle piece with a candle in the centre, looking very snowy and festive.

    castle 2 castle 3 castle 4

  • Got stencils?

    As many of you will know, I have participated in Michelle Ward’s Crusades over the last few years. Michelle’s taking a break from the Crusades but her presence in the art community remains strong. I have long admired her stamps, and own quite a few; recently she bought out stencils. So cool! With all the recent upheavals in our life, I needed a bit of cheering up, and what better way than with new art supplies? (chocolate would have worked too of course)

    You can a blogpost about see her stencils here. My stencils have arrived from the USA and they’re even more awesome than I imagined. I’ve had a quick play with them and, as if often the case, my first attempts turned out nothing like what was in my head. I need to puddle round a bit before I get comfy with new supplies. I think tomorrow might be a spray paint day 🙂

  • The year that was – 2011 as I remember it

    At the end of each year I think back on what I have done; it’s easy for achievements to sort of slide on by barely noticed. Knowing what we have done, and where we’ve been, helps map the road forward – so here a quick recap of things that stand out from 2011. When I first started thinking about this post it seemed I had not achieved much, but that’s not the case. It’s just that this years list is less dramatic than last year’s which had things like an art exhibition in Italy. Not the kind of thing that’s going to crop up year after year!

    • Joined in many of the Crusades with Michelle Ward over at the GPP Street Team site.
    • Re-elected as Co-Chair is PubSig, a national organisation that supports librarians, to serve another 2 years.
    • Did all the ‘stuff’ that needed doing when Aunt J passed away after years of suffering with dementia.
    • Accepted for Post Grad Diploma in Museum Studies at Massey for 2012 – they take quite a limited number.
    • Enjoyed another year of love and friendship with Sandra; 40-mumble years and counting!
    • Officially recognised as Deputy to the District Librarian at work
    • Co-presented an interactive workshop on Koha at this year’s LIANZA annual conference
    • Kept Mum at home for another year; safe, happy and reasonably well.
    • Appointed to the communications committee for the 2012 LIANZA annual conference
    • Supported another Kiwi artist who was offered a residency overseas

    My guiding word for 2011 was DETERMINED and I did about half the things I was determined to do. But I also did a lot of things that were not on my radar when I wrote my original list. I’m happy with what I achieved for the year. I have a fair idea of my word, and to do list, for 2012 but am not clear enough to capture it here yet. In the next day or two I’m sure I’ll post it…

     

  • Anyone for half a pear?

    Michelle Ward’s GPP Street Team Crusade No 28 is about “portion control” – using part of an image to create interest and mystery. Last month we were challenged to really explore a shape, I chose the pear. You can see some of the images I created here, here and here. I have kept using last month’s PEAR shape, and have been making new images on watercolour postcards. This way, I get to do the Crusade, and keep up my stock of postcards for sending off quick notes to people. Win win! For these three I used acrylics, gesso and Stazon ink pads, acrylic stamps and handcut stencils and masks.