Tuesday, January 1, 2008

2008

Happy New Year! This is a little watercolour of jacaranda pods from our garden, and a carved elephant 'calendar' from Malawi - my wish for Africa that 2008 will be a year of peace, democracy and enough for everybody. Already that seems like a pipe-dream with today's news from Kenya, but this is not a political blog so...

My artistic goals (doesn't sound as clench-teethed as resolutions, nor as easy to discard after a week or two) for this year - I am pretty bad at organising my thoughts and tabulating them, but here goes...

  1. To grow my blog - it has already had a profound effect on my productivity and commitment to learning more and making more art - so I want to post at least three times a week. Not quite ready to commit to every day yet.
  2. To draw or paint something every day
  3. To find more of a focus - I have tried so many mediums and styles - coming from a background in advertising rendering, where I had to be very versatile and compliant to others needs, I now would really like to discover my own artistic voice - it's been a long time coming!
  4. To join up with other artists - a group or society - where there is sharing of ideas, interaction and feedback. I haven't managed to find one yet, though I belonged to the watercolour society, WSSA, once - it may have changed now, but was quite a hierarchical and intimidating organisation. I may have to start my own group..?

That's enough for now - I'm scaring myself! I also hope to travel a bit - probably just around beautiful South Africa, and perhaps Namibia which Bruce is very keen to go to.

7 comments:

Vivienne said...

Hi Cathy
This is your other sister on the other side of the Indian ocean in Perth, where I think I am the "1-2 people" on the cluster map there.
I often look at your blog which I love, as the work is brilliant, and I feel so close to you through it. But have never signed up to comment. Today I took the time to look at other bloggers (hi Adam!). It is a wonderful resource. Wow.
Lots of love.

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks for dropping by, and commenting! Time my sisters started blogs so I can also see what you're up to! XXXOOO

laura said...

Hi Cathy. I love this watercolor--just the type of thing I always want to do with all the bits I collect here and there; nice drawing and color. The banana plants here in Fla. are very inspiring!

Gillian said...

Hi Catherine and Vivienne,
Just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR here as well. And a big DITTO to all Vivienne said. Your art blog is such an immediate heart felt connection across the thousands of miles that separate us. Keep it up, because as it "grows" you, it comforts and ministers to your (geographically) far away sisters!
Love Ginny XXXOOO

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Laura :) pods and wooden ellies aren't very colourful, but I enjoyed trying to 'capture' them. Banana plants are gorgeous - we have some here, but they get a bit frost-bitten in winter!

Cathy Gatland said...

Hey Gin - thanks for the encouragement... I waiver between enthusiasm for this, and total self-doubt - HNY to you all again

Adam Cope said...

bonjour cathy & sisters

a very happy healthy & creative new year 2008!

fun image with the line of elephants marching underneath.

namibia desert - wow, africa.... i can see you doing some really nice wet on wet colourful watercolours there. & they south arfrica is one of the prettiest places on earth. we would be lucky to see these blogged.