My cat hates my art

Emergence, Copyright © 2008 by Sandra Reid

If you have ever owned a Siamese cat you will know that they are highly intelligent, love companionship and that they own you, rather than you owning them. If they cannot do what they want when they want then you are subjected to very vocal howls of protest.

My cat is always with me when I create my art and has a daily routine where he comes in jumps up on my knee, fidgets around, sleeps for a short while and then jumps down to his beanbag where he sleeps for the remainder of the time.

At the time I was working on Emergence, I had recently acquired a new computer. As I had no room for it in my study it was set up on the dining room table which allowed my cat to sit beside me on a dining room chair while I worked away. Unfortunately he was not happy with the lack of attention and decided to seek revenge. Every time I moved the mouse I would be either swiped with a paw or chomped. A firm No! was of no use, he was determined.

In fact, he was so determined to disrupt my work that he ended up plonking himself smack bang between the keyboard and computer screen. By this time he was in a very bad mood and I again was chomped and swiped at. My attempts to try and move him were met with grumpy howls of protest along with further attempts to bite and claw me. It was futile to try and remove him so I ended up walking away and doing something else. This was not the the only occasion he behaved like this when I was working on this artwork.

Emergence, really is a pseudonym as this artwork should have been called, "My cat hates my art" because every time I look at it I am reminded of how much of a drama it was to work on. I created this artwork to look like the shell shape was emerging from within the artwork, hence the name Emergence.

It is probably just as well I do not paint as I probably would have had a piece of art adorned with paw prints and a dash of fur by now!

As for the cat, he is fairly old and feeling the cold of our winter so has a new trick which is to sit on the top of the computer tower case and glare at me when he is grumpy. Overall, though he is a pretty good companion.

Take the fractal art tour:

• Rings of Gold
  

New Zealand Affordable Art Show 2009

I am thrilled to announce that three of my artworks have been selected for the New Zealand Affordable Art Show, 31st July to 2nd August 2009 at the TSB Bank Arena, Wellington.

The three pieces that have been selected are;

• Chaos Paints a Flower
• L'Orange
• Emergence

Only one artwork will be on display at a time, all artworks are for sale and none have been previously exhibited. In fact, this is only the second time that I have exhibited my work publicly.

For further information about the show and entry cost, please click here.

Paua

Paua, Copyright © 2008 by Sandra Reid

Paua is an artwork that took many hours to create as once I had created the initial shape I had trouble visualising where I was going to head with this. So I filed the idea away for around 6 months before I looked at it again. Once again I struggled to find a clear direction for the artwork so I would only work on it sporadically.

After many months I was finally happy with the depth and dimension I had created with the shape but then had the challenge of creating a suitable background that would enhance the 3D illusion of the shape. Time and patience eventually paid off and this is now one of my favourite artworks.

The colours in this artwork were inspired by the beautiful colours of the paua shell, hence the name Paua. This web picture really does not do this lovely piece of art justice as the background is a very subtle pale blue.

Take the fractal art tour:

• Fredrika the Creature
  

Rings of Gold

Rings of Gold, Copyright © 2007 by Sandra Reid

Rings of Gold is about passion and excellence, striving to be the best you can be no matter what the circumstances.

This artwork evolved out of a triptych of an early morning sunrise that I had been working on. I had created realistic looking water and sky but wanted a surreal looking fractal sun for the middle panel. After working with several ideas I realised that this idea was not going to work and created a more realistic looking sun. In the process, however, I started to experiment with creating spheres and decided that I would pursue this idea further and create a spherical artwork.

Take the fractal art tour:

• L'Orange
  

Creature of the Deep

As a child I loved the natural history television documentary series by David Attenborough called Life on Earth. This led to my life long interest in biology and specifically the field of zoology. If I had not discovered photography in my late teenage years I would have pursued a career in zoology.

Creature of the Deep was inspired by an episode in that series called, 'The Conquest of the Waters' where I was first introduced to beautifully coloured ocean fish along with the weird and wonderful sea life that exists in extreme depths of the ocean where it is pitch black and freezing cold.

Creature of the Deep, Copyright © 2007 by Sandra Reid.

It is difficult to see the detail in this artwork so following are some sample close-ups.

Figure 1: Close-up

Figure 2: Close-up

Figure 1: Close-up of the top right-hand portion of the artwork
Figure 2: Close-up of the right lower point of the artwork



Take the fractal art tour:

• Paua
  

Hidden Within

Hidden Within, Copyright © 2008 by Sandra Reid

Hidden Within, is a very traditional classic style of fractal art and is a piece about discovery. What interesting shapes you can find hidden inside the art work?

Imagine looking down a dark tunnel, through a kaleidoscope or at a stained glass window in a darkened church and seeing a beautiful coloured piece of art at the end. This is the illusion I was trying to create with this piece.

Below is a close-up of part of the artwork so that you can see all the fine detail:

Figure 1: Close-up

Please note that due to variances in monitor colour calibration the actual colour of the printed artwork may look different.

Take the fractal art tour:

• Sculptures in the Sand