What sign are you?

I’m having some roof repairs done at the moment, and there’s nothing like the sight of a fit muscular man wielding his large hammer to stir the blood....... unless its two of them!

It also struck me, whilst I was idling watching the men working on the roof (as you do!) that this is the ideal time to do something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time................... MMm.... Oh Yessssss.......... !!! :)

So whilst handing over steaming cups of builders tea I gently broached the question to them ..... smiling at the handsome one I asked “Can I ask a favour of you?” “Do you want to draw us then, Jackie? he smiled back. “No” I grinned, as I know he knows I’m an Erotic Artist. “Do you want to tie us up then? “ he asked somewhat hopefully. “No” I grinned even more, whilst considering the possibility........ “It’s something else. Do you think you can put this up for me?” I said nodding at the contraption in my hand. He took a step closer and it off me and looked intently at it, turning it over in his strong hands.... “Yes, I think so” he grinned. And I grinned back, looking him straight in the eye, and thanked him appreciatively. “Can I have it up there” I said, pointing. He followed my gaze slowly, and agreed with a knowing smile, and I thanked him again.

I looked at him, and smiling even more and said “You know that I’m an Erotic Artist?” and he nodded, grinning. “Well don’t you think it’s really appropriate, that you’ll find me under the sign of the Golden Cock?” And he roared with laughter as we walked off.......... in separate directions.

There's a pattern here

Well, as expected, I sold no paintings at the exhibition at the weekend. And don't think I'm being depressingly negative, and I'm certainly not defeatist, and never a pessimist..... You see, the majority of the paintings sold were at the lower end of the market, price wise, since it was a "village hall" exhibition. And I know my paintings aren't cheap, but they are quality, and I rarely sell at that exhibition. Its the way it is! I've had endless conversations over the years as to the whys and wherefores of why people don't buy a lot at little exhibitions, and there is no set reason for it. But there is a pattern, in a way. People who go to those sort of exhibitions are looking for "cheap art" - something pink and floral for the hall, something with a boat in it for the living room, some watercolour of a garden, or of cute children, or a still life, they aren't looking for anything "specific" and they aren't looking for a specific artist, they're looking for a nice day out, a walk in the countryside, a quick look at the art exhibition, a cup of tea and a piece of cake, and to be entertained on a bank holiday weekend. They are not serious art buyers, they are just..................people. Nothing wrong with any of that, nothing at all. But I never seem to fill that category, somehow. I never have. I do fill part of that criteria, I can paint pretty pictures of still lifes (the shell painting I did last weekend, being a case in point!). But my prices are too expensive for village hall buyers, I think. I know if I put a price of below £60 on my art, I'd probably sell it, easily.

But I don't want to.

I value my art too much for that.

And listening to other people, who comment on my art, they do too.

Because cheap art, in a way, demeans the other art that that artist does. And I don't do cheap art. I don't do very expensive art, either! :) I think my prices are right for the place I am in, as an artist. For the commissions I do. And I would far rather paint a commission. And that is what makes me unusual for a lot of artists, as I LIKE painting commissions. I like people to ask me to paint a favourite subject in a certain way. Because they get just what they want, and I don't paint "best guess" paintings for little exhibitions, put a lot of hours in in creating the work, setting up the exhibition, spend time stewarding it, and helping taking it down afterwards, for no sales.

But, I also know that that isn't the main reason for exhibiting. It is, to state the bleeding obvious, an "exhibition" of paintings. It is a place to show other people what I can do. What I'm capable of. And that's why, it looks like I might be getting a commission from it, for a dog portrait. If the chap contacts me, as per the received message from a third party. It sounded quite hopeful though! LOL

So, the exhibition wasn't a waste of time. And it follows the pattern, as much as I've found, from previous exhibitions! :)

On and off the wall

Its always great to hear feedback regarding my artwork, especially when its hanging on another continent, and I've fondly waved it off to live elsewhere, never to be seen again. So I was absolutely delighted to see the final resting place of one of my queynte paintings this week. It's in Canada, and Sweatshopsissy has kindly sent me a link to their blog, which features the queynte painting I did earlier on this year, hanging in pride of place over the bed. Wow, how wonderful to see it again, and to see it properly framed and mounted and hanging on the wall. It looks beautiful there too, as the lovely frame really sets off the painting. So, thankyou, I really do appreciate you showing me the painting. I also love the tale about the young step-son who thought it looked like a sky diving picture! How wonderful is that!!!!!!! And that's the whole point of the queynte and tarse pictures, that innocent eyes don't know what it is they are looking at! :) But they can still see an imagined image within the shapes and colours.


I've also had an interesting conversation with a friend who loves my new fantasy willie (tarse) paintings, and also the fantasy fanny (queynte) ones and is contemplating having a joint tarse and queynte painting done in pale creams and pale siennas. I agree with her, that the image would be more hidden with such pale colours. I need a minimum of three tones to be able to to the paintings well, but they don't have to be strong tones like black and white, they can be gentle tones like pale cream, warm gold and dark gold. Or they could be the same tones but different colours, like pale pink, pale turquoise, and lemon yellow, or different tones of the same colour, like pale blue, royal blue, navy blue, or if you prefer hot colours rather than cold it could be scarlet, magenta and pale pink. or any permutation of colours at all really. I could make them all work as a painting, to fit a colour scheme for a room. My friend is going to talk to her fella and see what he thinks of the idea............................. I hope he wants it doing, I'd love to to it, to hide the fanny and the willie together in each others contours..... how exciting would that be!!!!!


And just to leave you with a painting before I go off to help set up the exhibition I'm part of this weekend, its this one.It will be at the exhibition and is called "Far far away". Its a watercolour of a planet, or our moon, with the distant universe behind......................... and I love the effect of it. The planet was painted with a brush but I wonder if you can guess the way the galaxy was painted, the way the stars lie in the sky. They weren't painted on, nor was masking fluid applied or splattered on, which is the usual way of creating light in a watercolour. I used .................... salt! But although I've seen salt effects before, its quite difficult to not let it look like salt was dumped on the wet paper. Its all in the wrist action you see !!!!! Either way, I love the painting, I love the effect of it, and hopefully someone else will too, and that too can go and hang on someone else's wall. But maybe not quite as far as Canada ........for this one! :)

Please don't touch that

I wasn't *greatly* looking forward to the still life in watercolour workshop last weekend, as I always think still life is a little uninteresting, no matter how well its painted, but I still went along, and was happy to attend......

It was mostly women there on the day, which is understandable, as I think still life does tend to be quite a feminine thing on the whole, pictures of flowers, or fruit, or jugs and bottles, are very peaceful objects to paint and enjoy looking at. The tutor had chosen a cut glass bowl filled with licorice allsorts to paint, on a white linen tablecloth, a difficult task to capture on both the cut glass aspect and the white linen cloth. She didn't finish the picture, but at least we were able to start to see how the beginning of her painting began. Then it was our turn to put paint to paper. We'd all been given the chance to take our own still life objects to paint, which I thought was a good idea and meant we could paint the objects that interested us most. A few had taken flowers, one woman had taken balls of wool and some knitting (to paint, I hasten to add, not to knit with!), and the majority had bottles and vases to paint. But I'd chosen something a little different, I'd taken some sea shells, picked up on various beaches in Devon and Cornwall on long distant half remembered holidays. I like shells. I like the intricate shapes, the pretty colours, the rough outer shell as opposed to the translucent inner parts where the sea creature lived, the gorgeous beauty and sense of natural history attached to them. So shells it was, for me.

I started by picking the shells that interested me for colour or shape and laid them out in a composition that pleased me, noting the negative shapes next to the positive shapes of the shells, and liking the formation of the design I was making..................... then I started drawing it out, and made sure I was happy with my design on the paper before I did any painting. We stopped for lunch then, and I sat and ate my ham sandwiches, chatting with my friends as we ate. It was as I returned to my table, that I found the woman at the next table peering over my shells and bending down for a closer look. "What sort of shells are those?" she asked "I don't know" I replied and she bent even closer and asked me if the flat shell was the same as the rounded one next to it, I wasn't sure if this was a trick question, since shells are always the same symmetrical shape................ and then, she did an astounding thing..................she lent forward........ and I could tell my her body language what she was about to do "PLEASE DON'T touch them!" I said urgently, and she drew her hand back, at my words. I couldn't believe she was just about to touch my STILL life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole point of it, is that it DOESN'T move!!!!!! Especially after I'd drawn it all out and was just about to start painting, it doesn't bloody move!!!! Rule one, of doing a still life workshop, don't touch anyone else's still life, and be careful as you walk past the tables, incase you barge into the table and knock it, inadvertently rearranging all the oranges and apples, flowers and feathers onto the floor!

So, on to the painting, and I decided to do a wet wash to start, to get some background in, and pull the image together before I started on the tiny details in the shells, and as I did the wet wash, I had that lovely piece of serendipity, as the paint wove its magic on the paper, it created the lovely wet beach effect before me - sand and water, light and shadows appeared, so it was easy enough to paint the shells afterwards, to pick up the contours of the shells, their shapes, and patterning, the way they sat together, the depth and form of them, and how they related to the shells around them, and the beach they were sitting on, and as I painted, and the afternoon wore on, I got more and more positive and admiring comments from the people around me, for the effect I'd created in my still life. Its got a life. It may be still, but it told a bit of a story, of the way the shells had been collected together on the beach, for their interest and natural beauty. I had to do a bit more work on it when I got home, but it all came together nicely. I've called the painting "Beach treasures" as that's what I think they are................. and I really love my still life, after all!!! LOL

Beyond infinity

Not only have I got Fitzys two commissions to do at the moment, I also have a local art exhibition coming up next week - its with the Ashby Guild of Artists at the village hall in Ticknall, South Derbyshire, if anyone is interested, is in the area, and wants to come along. It runs over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday 23rd, 24th and 25th of May from 10 til 5pm and I shall be there on the Saturday afternoon, stewarding. I enjoy the local art exhibitions, although I don't put anything erotic in it, as it might upset some of the old ladies who come along for a bun, cup of tea, and to look at nice pretty watercolours of flowers, kittens, and rural landscapes. Some of MY art is likely to give em heart attacks!!!! :)


So, I've been busy painting for that as well as doing Fitzys working paintings for the two canvas's he wants me to paint for him. And this has given me an opportunity to explore painting a universe painting. I've been wanting to do one for a few years, and thought that now is the time. I thought it would be easy, but I was wrong. It isn't. There's a lot of effects to get into space, and the stars are a little tricky to paint too - to get them looking like they're stars, far away, rather than polka dots, or daisies! But I've enjoyed doing it, once I found what I wanted to create and worked out how to do it. It's got colour and depth to it, and depth certainly helps when you want to paint space!!!!!!!! LOL


So, here it is, and I've called it "To infinity and beyond" - because it is beyond, there's a whole load of depth in it creating the infinity (is that the collective term for depth - load? Either way, there's a LOT of it!). Its done in oils, as I think oils depicts depth like this far better than any other medium. And it's not erotic, I haven't even put a naked woman or couple in it, so it won't upset the old ladies................................


Over this coming weekend I've got an art workshop to attend - its going to be still life in watercolour. It'll probably be a little quiet and staid to what I'm used to. The still life might be a hat, vase, flowers, an ornament, some fruit, a book, and a scarf artistically draped. That's what still life set ups are usually.


But its dawned on me........................... that that doesn't have to be the case. I could do an erotic still life :)


I could take some handcuffs, a blindfold, nipple clamps and a bull whip, for MY still life!!!!!!! LMAO


THEN it'd be EROTIC, wouldn't it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Behold - a Tarse!

I've been working diligently on the working painting for Fitzy's "Fantasy willie" painting, and last week I sent him the image for his feedback which I want to be favourable before I start the painting proper on canvas, as he has requested. But after I sent it I felt I wasn't totally happy with it. You see, a willie looks like, well, a willie! And its difficult to hide the shape of it. And the whole point of the "Fantasy fannies" was that the image was hidden. Of course, a fanny is an abstract shape to start with, that helps, but a willie isn't. Infact, its quite....................well..... specific! :)

And that was my problem, and the challenge was to make it look not like a willie, but the shape still there, within the painting....... So, I did the first painting, which is a working painting anyway, and sent it to Fitzy for his feedback. But whilst he was thinking about it, and before he had chance to respond fully with his thoughts regarding it, I decided that I could do better. So, I had another go, and am FAR happier with the result. The image is far better hidden within the colours of the paint. The shapes are still there, but there are more techniques employed to hide the image.

So, here they both are - the first "In yer face" picture, and the second "far more subtle, there, Jackie" pictures. Either are ok as images, either would work as an abstract painting, but I know which I prefer! The colours are softer in the second painting too, which I think is a nice comparison with the "Fitzy living flame" image that it's to hang with, but it could be argued that the colours are more masculine in the first painting. They are still the same palette of colours, and the same that I used for the "Fitzy living flame" image, so they would all hang nicely together, and not clash.

And as for the name - I've found a lovely old English word - "Tarse" - which means "Male genitals" - which is exactly what they are! LOL But, if it was hanging on the wall and someone asked you what it was and you replied "Its an abstract of a tarse", they'd go "Oh!" because they wouldn't have a clue what a tarse is, like the fantasy fannies are called "Queyntes" - another old English word! So, this is my first tarse, but hopefully not my last! :) and if you look up the word tarse you'll find it also means *falcon* which is a nice meaning too for the word, I think! Oh, and its got a man logo in it, like the Queyntes have a woman logo in them, to remind you what it't about.

So, what do you think?

Teaching teacher

The people who commissioned the portrait of the horse"Elliot" came to pick the painting up this week. I had met them before when I went to take the photos of Elliot, but that was at their house. And they wanted to come to my house to collect the painting, as it is a surprise and they didn't want the game to be given away by my going to their house with the surprise gift. So the meeting was arranged and they came to me with no prior knowledge other than a brief meeting and a knowledge that I am a local artist.................. who does horse portraits........

They arrived and I welcomed them in, and we stood chatting about animals, and art. I showed them a few paintings that I've done, as they passed them on the way to my studio, and we stopped and chatted about the art and the various techniques that I'd used to create the paintings. They liked them, and were interested, which is always gratifying :)

Eventually, I led them into my studio and showed them the portrait of Ellliot, which they loved, and said I'd just captured his look, which was great to hear. It's always a slight concern when revealing a portrait, that the painting looks like the subject matter. Infact I was reminded of that when chatting to my photographer friend over the seas, when he said that a photographer cuts out the excess of what he can see to make the image, whereas an artist puts in ALL they can see to make their image. Interesting contrasts. But I'd obviously caught all that makes Elliot, for his painting, which is always great to hear that I'd not missed anything!

We carried on chatting about other pieces of art I'd done, various paintings were scattered around the studio, including Fitzy's working painting of him done in the living flame style, and his "fantasy willie" half completed, that I was working on when they arrived. I ignored it as it was "just" an abstract as far as they were concerned, and didn't need to know the specifics of it. The chatting flowed, and as we talked I was aware of the guy looking at what was behind me, and when he was able he enquired about it - my certificate of membership to the Guild of Erotic Artists, he was intrigued (especially as he had NO idea at all that I did Erotic art!! LOL). So I explained that I was an erotic artist, and waxed lyrical over it, as I am apt to do! They both listened, and asked various questions, and I told them about the "fantasy fannies" project, and how that has lead to the "fantasy willies" project, and that I've had a huge response to it all already! I carried on with my chatting, and the woman fell quiet as I spoke, and then asked me why don't I teach? She said "You're passionate about your art, and are "fresh" in your approach". It turned out that she teaches teachers, and she thinks I'd make a good teacher. That made me think. Do I want to teach? Is it the way forward? She says she'll help me if I want any advice from her, and I've taken her up with her offer. I like her and her husband and will be happy to see them again.....

I'm thinking about it.

Oh, and it turns out that she lives in the same village that I did my WI talk for, 18 months ago. She's a busy woman and isn't a WI member but is aware of the talks, and was sorry that she had missed mine. Apparently she also missed the chance to hear a talk about the joys of hearing aids as well............................................. I'm not sure which one might have been the high light!! :)


Still, she's already learnt something from me.

If you want your horse painting, come and see an erotic artist! :)

What makes a price a price?

I've updated my website with a few new images recently and decided I ought to put the prices on the paintings that are for sale on it. Because no one is going to buy them without a price on them are they? LOL Even though a lot of the artwork there is in private collections, some in distant lands across the seas, I want to display them as an example of the sort of artwork I do and am capable of. People often see something they like there and say "Can you paint me like that one there" (but not the dog pictures, I hasten to add, before I get into trouble! LOL ) If I only put the "for sale" art up, it wouldn't be half as interesting (I think, but then I'm biased!) as it currently is........but the thing that struck me as I looked at the prices on my website is the difference in some of them. How can I have some artwork at less than a £100 next to art in the high hundreds? And I wondered if others would think the same and think that the balance of prices is uneven. But it isn't. Its very fair. The low prices are due to the artwork being either a lot easier (by comparison) or older artwork that was completed some years ago, and hasn't sold yet. Newer artwork WILL be more expensive. The more famous an artist gets, the higher the prices go. Its the way of art. So I'm not planning on my art prices going down. Infact I'm working hard on them going UP.

As well as the regular art on my website, I now have a "special offers" page. Its the page where the art is *currently* under £100. Now, that's got to be affordable, hasn't it? The artwork there may be working drawings, or practice pieces, but its still art. And some of it may appeal to you.... go and take a look and see what you think......................

I've also got the Guild of Erotic Artists volume 2 book for sale there too... for anyone who wants to buy one.... its a beautiful book, in which I am featured alongside 31 of The Guild's artists, photographers and sculptors. Each person has six pages detailing their work and the background behind their skills. Approximately A4 size, this beautiful 200 page limited edition paperback has been written, produced and published by The Guild of Erotic Artists. Whether you are interested in erotica, photography, or figurative art, this book has great appeal. With a run of just 5,000 copies, the book is a Limited Edition - a collector's item and an ideal present. Copies bought from me can be signed on request.Price £22.99 plus postage and packing.

So, I think what I'm saying here is, if you see some art you like on my website, that has a price on it that you like, contact me, before it goes..........