So inspiring

The view out to sea at the moment is so inspiring that I can feel a wee series coming on. This weekend I can going to spend some time playing with thumbnail sketches, thinking about colour and texture and composition and … you get the idea!

Next year one of the exhibitions I have coming up requires landscape oriented canvases no less than 60cm wide. So, I’m thinking very narrow and very long; perhaps just capturing the waves in action in a fairly abstract way.

Isn’t it lovely?

This started as a photo of water cascading over the sea walls in Mana Bay, taken by local Gwen Broughton. Magic!

Detour #2

This is the other painting I completed yesterday. I can tell you the sky today does not look that good; it’s uniform gray, wet and miserable…

This one is 10×10″ on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my Etsy site.

Detour #1

I’ve been exploring the Patea landscape in a fairly abstract way again. Our local landscape never fails to bring my joy. There are two new paintings in this on-going series, and I have called this one “Detour #1” because in order to see the cliffs I have to take a considerable detour on the way home from work.

This has lots of solid gritty texture, and layers of dry-brushed paint for real atmospheric depth. 4×8″ in acrylics on gallery-wrap canvas. For sale on Etsy.

I am inspired by…

our pets. It sounds a bit daft perhaps, but I am.

They’re so in touch with what they want. When they need a nap, they nap. When they need to eat, they eat. When they want to play, they play.

We can all learn from that. When I want to make art, I should just find the time, and make art.

This photo is our young cat, Goldie, asleep on the end of Grandma’s bed, with one of Faith’s squeaky toys for company.

Bragging Grandma alert!

Our wee Grandson Rory has recently learnt to stack the contents of the pantry. Check out the chin-forward total concentration – he looks very pleased with himself.

Too cute huh?

Mt Egmont

Mt Egmont, originally uploaded by cathrs1964.

Today has been so incredibly cold (hail has been sitting on the ground all day – brrr) that it got me thinking about all the mountain paintings I have done over the years. This one, in pastel, is a favorite of my husbands. From time to time we think about getting it framed to put up at his workplace.

Reach Out unveiled

88 artists (including me!) have contributed to ‘Reach Out’ by creating one small individual artwork. They were provided with a small wooden panel and given a theme to paint to. The theme this year is ‘On your mind’ and interpretation of this is entirely up to the artists.

When all of these individual artworks are combined they create an overall image and a stunning one of a kind artwork measuring 1.3m x 1.5m. The overall image of the collaborative artwork is kept secret, even from those participating in it, until the unveiling of the artwork on the opening night of the NZ Art Guild annual exhibition.

This year not only can you own the collaboration in its’ entirety, but you can purchase a Limited Edition Print or an individual boxed print of your favorite piece. To view all the details of this piece and how you can get your hands on it go here…

Jelly Roll Quilts

I am reading a lovely new book called “Jelly Roll Quilts” by Pam & Nicky Lintott. Am I a quilter? Umm, no. Not yet anyway! But that doesn’t matter because this book is just so lovely to look at. The photos and colours are in inspiration regardless of the medium.

It’s something I have said before – I think one of the joys of being an artist, and one of the learned skills, is to really look, to really see, the world around us. I read books about anything just to see the world and have it inspire me. What have you *really* looked at today?

I bought it at Minerva in Wellington, a beautiful textile art bookshop and gallery. Fabulous, but totally lethal to the credit card 🙂