Cath Sheard Art

Tag: painting

  • Working on the Hokitika Gorge

    Over the weekend I spent some time working on slightly larger paintings inspired by the Hokitika Gorge, following my visit after Easter. These are on Hahnemuhle 300lb watercolour paper using heavy body acrylics and water soluble crayons. I love the granularity of some of the mark making.

    Do I know what the shapes mean to me yet? No! But that’s okay. I’m happy to sit with not knowing, because that’s often how my art works. What I do know is that the shapes are embedded in what I’m doing and critical to the works.

    west coast 1west coast 2west coast 3

     

     

  • Paint under my nails…

    I’ve had an arty sort of day. I’ve worked in my art journals, but also felt inspired to grab a canvas and spread some paint around. Not sure if it’s finished yet, will leave it lying round and see what I think. As usual, there are messages in my art journal pages, which some people will recognise as relating to them…

    Last night Tony, Sandra and I went out for dinner then enjoyed the Rocky Horrow Show shadowcast by Flash Mob Taranaki. I haven’t laughed so much in years. “Eddie – drawn, not sketched…”

    week 44boundaries 2018-11-4choices 2018-11-4IMG_5034rockySandraTony and I rocky

     

     

  • It’s beginning to look

    It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … at least on my craft desk. As I said to my sister Ailsa last night, why buy 20 Christmas tags for 70c when you can use $100s of dollars of product and oodles of people-hours to achieve the same thing? I occasionally see a meme about crafting being cheaper than a therapist, and just as good for you. That’s just not true; if you buy enough supplies, it’s way dearer than therapy 😉

    Also, Dimmie has hung our exhibition in Eltham for ArtsFest – thanks so much for all your hard work Dimmie. She sent me some quick installation photos before her phone ran out of battery.

    zzz art 1zzz art 2body of workzzz xmas

     

  • Trying an acrylic pour

    In the last few weeks I’ve seen a few people trying acrylic pours. I have a spare canvas I’d tried something on and it hadn’t worked out, some old foam cups, and some PVA glue I don’t like. Tony has CRC in the garage. So, all the key ingredients at my fingertips.

    Huge thanks to YouTube artists who have so generously shared their process. The basic process for a dirty pour is

    • put a push pin in each corner on the back of the canvas so the paint drips don’t stick it to the work surface
    • mix glue, water and paint in individual cups – ratios vary from artist to artist
    • mix a double batch of white
    • add a little silicone (such as CRC) to each OR as you mix into the final container
    • pour layers of paint into your final pouring cup
    • add silicone if you didn’t add to each colour
    • once you add silicone run a paint brush handle or something through once or twice – do not stir
    • cover the canvas with some of the runny white paint
    • put the canvas on top of the cup, tip it over and give it a moment for the paint to run
    • remove the cup and watch the paint spread
    • tip the canvas to move the paint around
    • heat with a heat source such as an embossing gun to remove bubbles & create ‘cells’
    • leave to dry – it will take days…

    Mine hasn’t dried yet, so it will be interesting so see how it looks.

    pourpour 1DSC_0013 (1)

  • Playing in my art journals

    A week or so back we brought all my art supplies into the house. I love having everything in the one room and, to my surprise, it has ramped up my desire to paint again.  I’m playing round with ideas in an old ledger book, and getting up early to paint.

    I’ve also done a new 20×30″ canvas for our room. I wanted something with gold and red, so did a small test piece then the bigger canvas. Because the final canvas is much bigger the look isn’t quite the same, but I’m fine with that. It feels a bit like a scrap of mad Victorian wallpaper to me! My only disappointment is the canvas, a deep edge Winsor Newton, is warped so isn’t sitting flat to the wall on one side.

    dream bigforsakengold leafnew painting