Cath Sheard Art

Tag: watercolour

  • What we love vs what inspires

    What we love vs what inspires

    Alan and I went bush for the weekend. I love being out in nature – trees, hills, quiet, no power or cell cover. No other people. Listening to Morepork at night, watching Tui during the day. Bliss!

    I knew Alan would be doing his thing during the day. We both accept I have limited physical capacity some days. I had prepped two small art journals, and took water soluble crayons and pencils, and a few other bits and pieces. The journals are a new brand for me, and turns out the paper isn’t as durable as I like despite being a bit dearer than some of my fav journals. I bought them to try because they were 30% off. I also wish I’d taken actual watercolours, but both those problems are incidental.

    What’s fascinating, as an artist, is while I absolutely love being in the bush it doesn’t inspire me to paint in the way I expect it to. It might just be that I haven’t done enough to loosen up and create the sort of work I like, but I’m also not sure I want to. And yet when I go down South I find the water, and the colours of the Hokitika Gorge, inspire me to create over and over and over.

    What we love, and what inspires us to create, are not necessarily the same thing. Why? I have no idea really, but I’m mulling it over. In the meantime, here’s some samples of the pages I did do…

  • Wanderlust week 3

    Week 3 was a watercolour lesson with Nicole Warrington. We painted a postcard and incorporated some of the watercolour trial pieces into a collages layout. I’ve got Kuretake Gambai watercolours, which are a little more opaque than standard watercolours. I have two sets of 24 and enjoy using them but I’m an absolute beginner. This was a fun class, and I’m pleased with the final pages. 

  • A proving ground

    My journals are a safe place to play but also somewhere for ideas to prove themselves or die… Sometimes an idea isn’t sustainable for practical reasons, perhaps because of the materials or energy required.

    Other times I start to play with an idea and, 2 or 3 iterations along, I’m getting bored with it. If an idea is going to become a series, even a small one, it’s needs to hold my attention for a sustained period of time.

    There’s been a couple of things recently I’ve tried and dropped for the above reasons. So I’ve gone back a bit to go forward – relooking at ideas that have captivated me in the past, and putting a fresh twist on them.

    I’m playing with ridge lines, mountains and the landscape generally. Because it’s a familiar subject I’m able to play around with my materials more. These early trial works incorporate gelli prints, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, water soluble pencils, Kuretake watercolours and Ranger Distress Foundry Wax.

  • #cjs20 day 23

    The artist for day 23 of #cjs20 was John DuVal, a painter who specialises in watercolour. He captured the light and the feel, more than the details, and that appeals to me. Initially I wasn’t going to try it, even though I do landscape painting. Tony asked why not and I didn’t have a good reason! I’m pleased I did because actually his approach suits me.

    I visited Pukakaiki, on the West Coast of the South Island,  in December with Alan and was fascinated by the rock formations. This small watercolour is based on one of the photos I took.

    day 23 John DuVal

  • #cjs20 day 4

    Today’s artist is Andrea Gomoll, whose work I often check out on YouTube – so, as with Jane LaFazio yesterday,  it was great to see her name pop up as the featured artist on #cjs20. Her video was about colour theory essentially.

    I don’t have watercolours any more so used watered down fluid acrylics on Bristol paper that I’d taped down with washi tape. The washi tape had black dots on it and some of them transferred to the paper, which was odd. My favourite is the red and green, Tony’s favourite is the blue (possibly because it’s the most realistic).

    day 4.jpg