Catherine "Kater" Cheek is a writer and artist.
Catherine Cheek
Author's posts
Apr 06
48 Birds #5 Darling Sparrow
I had read about some gesso resist techniques and wanted to try them. The author, whose article appeared in a magazine called “Apprentice Building Blocks” from Somerset, neglected to mention whether one had to paint the background with paint before doing the gesso resist, or whether you were to just paint the gesso on plain …
Apr 02
48 Birds #4: The Sparrow Looks Up
For this piece, as with the previous one, I was hoping for a faint scratchy surface texture, like a print from a scratched negative or an etching. My attempts to do this with beeswax were messy and unsatisfactory, so I decided to use the slight-resist properties of gesso to do the same thing. I had …
Mar 31
Emu-Klear Drum
I had originally intended to finish these drums in time for Jeremy’s birthday, which falls in the last week of February (I began these in January). I was too worried about cracks along the neck, which you can tell just by looking is going to be a major stress point, so I left them wrapped …
Mar 28
Purple Haze Drum
 Jeremy had asked me to try to make a drum for him, and I said I’d give it a shot. It’s not an easy project. Open bodied clays are easier for large projects, but they have a hollow sound rather than a ringing sound, which isn’t what he wanted. If I coil-built it, I …
Mar 25
48 Birds #3: The trouble with beeswax
Every time I see beeswax collages in the art magazines, it looks really fabulous. Every time I try to replicate it, the results are messy and frustrating. I think it doesn’t help that I’m lacking the correct tools. I use a heat gun and a ceramic dish (I learned not to use metal!) instead of …