It’s been a long week at work. School holidays are always a very busy time in a library, but we have 6 new computers with free internet so the teens are swarming! We normally have about 500 people through the doors each week. This week we hit just over 1,000 – not bad when you consider the population of Patea is approx 1100. And to make life even more “interesting” this week two of my four staff were off sick. I just hope they’re resting up well.
My rest has come in the form of painting time, shut away in my art room with no people, no teens, no music – just me and my paints. If I can’t sleep, I can always paint, and paint I have. I have been trying to work looser and also trying to lift my colours a bit. I do tend to paint quite dark paintings, and am making a real attempt at more cheerful work. This one is 10×10″ on gallery wrap canvas.
Cath Sheard 
I really like this work, Cath. The colours and the energy in the line. I played around with indian ink on mixed media recently to try and capture some kind of energy coming off the page. Did you use ink?
Hang in there. I visited the library myself and noticed some students I know watching You Tube videos of American gang members … I wondered if the librarian could or should do something about it. Mind you, the boys were friendly to me and didn’t mind showing me what they were watching. I imagine you have your hands full with numbers like that coming through your library.
I’m very much enjoying seeing the changes in your work since you started the Masterclass and graduated. Did you get a copy of “Go” from TLC? If not, have you hit them up about it? Fantastic book. I was talking to the man that wrote the forward and he runs a very interesting class at his uni in USA – its about artists and making money. I’ll consider Masterclass if they incorporate that!
Anyway, great to see your commitment to your art.
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Oh dear, an English grad and I spelled foreword wrong.
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No ink etc – just acrylic – but using Golden fluid acrylics much more loosely. Watched Dale Chichuly on the Art channel last night – he just grabs the bottle and squeezes, but with amazing control. Stunning to watch – it’s well worth tracking down a video on him if you can. I am enjoying working more freely, and lighter.
I will e TLC about a copy of Go. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kids in the library – one of my passions! So watch out – long post *may* follow LOL
Kids and vids in the library – esp YouTube. I am fairly, okay very, liberal. I try hard to apply the same rules to teens as I would adults – so if I see something I’m not sure about I stop and think – would I question this if it was an adult watching. If the answer is no, I leave it.
Also, I figure if they watch stuff ‘with me’ rather than in secret at home, at least there is some opportunity, however slight, to talk about it. They all know I sometimes stand behind them and watch what they’re watching 😉
Some of the teens who use 1 of the 2 libraries I manage are already involved with Black Power, esp if their parents are gang members. I take that into account in terms of what interests them on the net. If their family has chosen to belong to a gang, I don’t feel anything gives me the right to criticise that choice to their children, whatever my personal opinion.
But what I do is remind them things they post, photos and comments, and always going to be there and can be seen by anyone. I suggest they are careful about photos in particular. They think I’m old and stupid of course LOL
By take on it is if I can have the kids in the library, surrounded by books, hanging out with their mates on the beanbags – it is better than them wandering the streets looking for mischief. For many of our young people, our local library is THE place to hang out.
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Love what you are doing with color. Oh how I love color.
May I also say that I love your library/kid attitude above.
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Beautiful work!
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Especially like the bold spots of turquoise in this piece,,
and the looseness is great!
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Great work – must have been so much fun creating it! I like the soft veiled look on the right, that contrasts the bold strokes and colors.
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Cath, I love the recent work! So sorry about the hospital stays for your mum and Tony. That had to be harrowing! We’ve been running everywhere full out for the past three months and I’ve just now slowed down and started getting caught up on my blog reading. I care for my 95-year old mother so I know how worrying it is when they become ill. Today’s minor sniffle could turn into a crisis tomorrow. I hope you all stay healthy! And good luck with your gallery show.
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