A couple of posts back I mentioned that I wanted to do a new painting for our kitchen, which is mainly a medium cream color, with deep grey bench tops. The last painting was a darkish moon painting, which I really like, but I felt the kitchen needed a lift. I stuck to mainly transparent Golden Fluid acrylics plus some black, and here’s the result:
I’m finding this more academic than I expected but loving it all the same. I’m particularly taken with the Wolf Kahn and Hans Hoffman works, and some of the gentler abstract expressionist works. 
I sometimes forget what a profound impact colour has on me though. I read this till about 10pm then spent half the night with possible paintings dancing in front of me, and vivid colour schemes making my brain as far from relaxed as I could possibly get!
I’m wanting to do a new, large-scale, painting for our kitchen and am thinking about really strong colours along the lines of those used on the book’s cover. I might even work in pastels instead of acrylics for a change. We’ll see … I need some peaceful sleep first though.
I’ve starting making trial signatures for a swap I’m involved in. We each make 11 sets of signatures, and send off by the 20th Sept, and signatures back from a variety of amazing artists. You can see more about it here.
I have been playing with some quite heavy watercolour paper, and have decided it is a bit *too* heavy. The other day I ordered some lovely paper from Gordon Harris, and I’m going to have a play with those tomorrow. I’ve got some mixed media paper, rice paper, watercolour paper and one other – escapes me for the moment just what it was. So far I have stuck with black, white and red, and have been using foam stamps, old credit cards, a spray bottle, stencils and marker pens. The mark making is too dark for the look I want; tomorrow’s lot will be a bit less obvious. Here’s what I have been doing so far:
Our Italy trip has been on my mind a lot lately, for all kinds of obscure and tangential reasons. Things like the financial woes in Europe, the realization that Tony and I probably won’t be going overseas again, seeing some poppies growing locally, graffiti that reminds me of the trains in Italy…
I’ve been wanting to start a new series of paintings, using mainly black and white with a little red, and over the last few nights have dreamed these into existence. As I start painting Tony often asks, partly to wind me up, “what’s it going to be?”. He kept coming and looking at these three, a bit baffled. When I had finished he said “poppies”. Yup – but think of the viaduct, and the train tracks. Oh yeah, you have the graffiti underneath, and the old roman viaduct. Yes, Tony, I do!
There are things I know that are with me every day: my address, my husband’s birthday, my dog’s name – you know, the stuff that just *is* in our brains. And then there’s the stuff I have to be reminded of periodically, such as what I really like to do art-wise. Slowly but surely I go off on a tangent from time to time. I suspect what happens is I’m influenced by what I see in magazines, online, in galleries etc. I incorporate a bit of this style, that technique, that colour way – just to try it – and slowly move away from doing what makes my heart sing.
I’ve way adrift at the moment, so am going back to playing on paper for a while, to rediscover my true artistic self. What made me realise I needed to do this? Two things; I have been putting off starting any new paintings, which is unusual for me. And seeing work by the two artists below. Their work spoke so clearly to me of what is in their hearts. It was an “aha!” moment.
Check out Martial Robin here and Cathy Hegman here (particularly Memory Marks top right). I love works with a lot of white, with scratches and texture, inky splashes and charcoaly shadows. But it’s *not* what I do – and that’s the catch. To love other works, but hold true to what makes my heart sing.
Cath Sheard Art 