Cath Sheard Art

Tag: self

  • Working in, working on, my journals

    Recently I purchased a few arty magazines from Stampington & Co, because it is cheaper to buy direct from the USA than to buy them here in New Zealand; that’s if I can even find the titles I want. So, I’ve been enjoying the Winter 2011 edition of Art Journaling by Somerset Studios. Yesterday I popped across to Ro Bruhn’s blog and, what do you know, she was blogging about sketchbooks. As I said on Facebook, I had an instant case of sketchbook envy. Then I got to thinking; what is it about Ro’s sketchbooks, amongst others, that make me envious and wanting to do more? I use my sketchbooks, so what’s the issue here?

    I spent some time looking at my journals, some online ones, and the pages in Art Journaling and started to see the differences. Often the ones I love use pages that have been prepared ahead of time – smothering them in gesso and acrylic washes ready to work in. Many that I like have stitching and ink splatters, or just lots of layers of work. Yet when I look at mine I tend to want to get the ideas down, visually thinking out an idea, and then move on. It was an “AHA! moment.

    I hauled out a 13x21cm sketchbook with a nice weight of paper, and went through it covering all the pages with gesso. When that was dry I went back and edged all the pages in various ways – something else I had realised I love the look of. After that had dried, I started creating some pages, working back and forth, adding paint and collage and ink and my own handwriting. No plan – just working intuitively and, more importantly, keeping working on the pages. And you know what? I now have 3 pages in my new journal that I’m really happy with. They say something to me, say something from me, and are testament to my new working process.

    For the record, the page I have scanned is about the recent disasters and how I am overloaded by all the tragedies and taking myself off the news circuit for a few days. A huge step for someone who is normally a news junkie…

    Make it stop. Cath Sheard, 2011

     

  • Doing what I want, not what I should…

    I spent some time the other day, just sitting in my art room, staring at the walls. Bored? No! Far from it; thinking about what I create and why. It’s a question I come back to from time to time, sometimes reasonably frequently if I have a lot on my mind.

    What could I see while I sat there? Most of the works on the walls are mine, bar two pieces – one by fellow NZ Art Guild member Tanya Dann, and one by Sandra Toornstra who I attended The Learning Connexion with. It was interesting to consider what I have chosen from my own works to look at all the time and why I chose them. It says something about my true preferences. You know the ones; the preferences that are about creating and enjoying, not exhibiting and selling. And boy oh boy, I realised once again that a chasm has appeared. What I love and what I create are not the same thing at the moment. No wonder I am feeling a bit under-inspired. I must be a slow learner because it’s not the first time this has happened…

    How is it that I come to this realisation, then lose it again after a while? In some ways I blame the internet. It’s so easy to get distracted by stats, figures, trends & sales and forget what’s in your heart. Cynthia Morris wrote a great article along these lines recently.  Post edited to add: I’m also reading Nicholas Carr’s “The shallows: how the internet is changing the way we think, read and rememebr” on the same subject. Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such mind-altering technology. He believes the Net is actually re-wiring our brains and that by moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction, the web is actually fostering ignorance. This is a challenging book, with a message worth thinking about.

    What am I going to do about it? My commitments to myself are as follows:

    • Facebook twice a day and that’s it.
    • Limit the amount of time I spend online each day.
    • Don’t enter any exhibitions etc till next year.
    • Spend from now till after Christmas creating for fun only – *no* selling.

    So, back to the original question – what did I see on my walls? Here’s the answer:



  • Crusade #45 – back to back

    Michelle’s challenge this month over the GPP Street Team site was to make colour copies of the backgrounds we scraped together last month, and finish them a few different ways. Today was a rare day for me; aside from the washing, there was *nothing* I needed to do. No paperwork, no artwork due, no anything!

    So, I did a pile of colour copies, grabbed some supplies and ripped into it. I used stencils, Sharpies, transparencies, foam stamps, bubble wrap stamping, hand writing, collage, stickers. With some of the pages I then re-scanned and added text in Photoshop.

    All up, I did around 20 pages. Here are a few that I particularly like (I’m showing a couple of the original backgrounds too). In some of them not all of the writing is visible. This is because some of them became like journal pages as I worked and the messages on them feel reasonably personal given that I’m quite introverted. If you can read it all, go for it. If you can’t, never mind!

    As always, thanks so much for the inspiration Michelle. If you enjoy looking at these, you’ll find links to other artists who are playing this month on the left hand side of the GPP Street Team home page. And if you want to join in – cool! Can’t wait to see what you create 🙂

     

    background 1

     

     

    background 2

     

     

    I value diversity

     

     

    My guarded heart

     

     

    Valued tools

     

     

    Painted hands

     

     

    Poppies

     

     

    My hands…

     

  • Playtime in my art studio

    It’s not often I get time alone at home; being full-time carer for my Mum means that I almost always have someone at home with me. On top of that, during the week we have two different caregivers coming in and out, etc. I value their help, we could not manage without them and both still work, but it’s more people in my days. For a real introvert, this is not always easy. Today my husband Tony has gone to visit his cousin Alison and my sister Ailsa has taken Mum out for a drive. So it’s just me, the cat and the dog. Bliss! I love my family and would not change my life for anything, but I do crave time alone.

    So what does an artist do when they get some unexpected time out? Yes, that right, they head for their studio … and I did. I have started on some backgrounds, just playing with texture, colour and pattern. I’ve also done a few small, connected, abstract landscapes using my favorite Unison pastels.

    I love the feel of pastels plus there’s such a depth of colour; I enjoy the way the light hits those fine particles of pure colour. The only downside for me is that if I use them too much the ends of my fingers get sore from wiping them clean all the time. I try not to be too compulsive about keeping my fingertips clean and that helps!

    For the backgrounds I gathered up foam stamps, liquid acrylics, a white wax crayon, rubber paint spatula, letting stencils and some scraps of patterned paper. I fairly randomly layered the colours and patterns on. These are nothing finished about these at all – they are very much at the beginning stages so it’ll be fun to see what develops over the next few days.

    Now I am going to sit down in the sunshine and start working with some ideas I’ve had for Christmas gifts. There’s less than 3 months to go, and I want to make one or two textile items for family members. Fingers crossed that my new glasses give me sharp enough focus for doing needlework. Time will tell…

    Starting on some backgrounds; these will uncurl as I add more layers.
    Working on small landscapes in pastel.
    I love the way Unison pastels catch the light.

  • Not too bad I guess!

    This is the photo that is going in the local newspaper to advertise my fundraising venture for getting to Italy in May. The pear painting on the wall behind me is off to an exhibition in a week or two; the piece in my hand is a trial run for the Italy works.

    I am selling art shares in the trip, you’ll find all the details a couple of posts back. If you are interested in an original piece of art work and more, for just $35, have a read and then email me. I’d love to hear from you.