A change for the better

Right, I can tell you more about the erotic abstract now.....

I was happy that I had finished it the first time, but the woman who I had done it for found it confusing in parts, and I realised over subsequent conversations with her that I had probably made it overly complicated in trying to hide the image. Her kids had seen it and had only seen colourful shapes, pointing out the fish, witch, birds wing and other outlines and missing the main picture, because it was only shapes. As it turned out, the adults I'd created it for seemed to have the same problem!!!! 

Mmm.... rethink!

I'd already said that it was no problem to change the colours and shapes to make it more obvious. I stood infront of it with the woman who it was created for and asked her what she could see. She told me, and although there were three people in the picture she could only see half of one of them in effect...  Ok, then I need to do some more work on it.

The next day I started tweaking it, and spent another four hours adjusting various parts to make it more readable. And showed the woman again. She looked at it, and her first response was that I hadn't made any changes, and then she looked a little further, and again, seeing the nuances of it,  and stood with a grin and said "I can see it now!". Phew, that was a relief! I smiled, and looked back at it, as she did, and I was pleased that she can now look at it and see the eroticism of the image. Although, innocent eyes will still only see innocence.......

And just to add to the rest of the story, she texted me this morning to thank me for the extra work I had done on it, and to say that she had read my blog from the other day when I wrote about making the changes, and NOW she could see the erotic shapes as I had planned in the ORIGINAL image. I laughed in disbelief, and she went on to say, that now that I had made the changes to the painting it had trained her eyes more, so that she could see the first image far clearer. I can understand that. And I am hugely relieved that she doesn't want me to continue painting to return it back to how it was! She understands, as I do, that the second version has taught her how to read it clearer!

So, on to explaining more about it, and to show you the finished version. The definitive version! Which, I know is still abstract and still "just shapes" - but if you look at the original working drawing, you will see instantly what the image is, and why it is erotic. There are three people in the picture, two women, and one man. The women are lying on top of the man, which is why you can't see him clearer. His hand is clear on the right hand side, as it rests on the back of the woman on the right. His other arm is actually the strange shape behind the woman on the left, his hand is caressing her neck, although the arm is only visible to the wrist. His head and neck are behind the arm of the woman on the left in the top centre of the picture, his legs are visible - one between the legs of the two women, and the other under the woman on the rights thigh. His cock is the strange shape in the middle of the picture, above the thigh of the woman on the right. His stomach is above, between the knees of the woman on the left, and the breast and stomach of the woman on the right.  As you have probably realised by now, the two women are caressing, but only using one hand each, on the arm of the other woman. I realised when I started working on the design that if I had heads, hands, and feet within the picture it would be pretty obvious what it was, and what was happening. So, I cropped the image, and that made the image more abstract straight away. Merging some shapes, and disguising the obvious shapes by adding extra distinctive ones, led the eye away from the image a little more. Having a limited colour scheme helped, and adding red and silver and black made the image more dramatic, and gave the viewers brain something to look at and question.

There are actually a lot of the original lines from the working drawing used in the finished painting. You have to look closely to see where they are, and as I said, I have purposely tried to hide them anyway.




So, that's it then. Done! And hopefully no more changes....... its erotic enough, and hidden enough as it is.

Do what you do best

It's been another frustating week. The house sale has been pushed back another couple of weeks. I stand the chance of losing the house I'm after and am having to placate vendors, purchasers, solicitors, estate agents and concerned friends and aquaintances. Whilst trying to carry on with my life whilst half of my posessions are packed away in boxes, and half are where they usually live, but collecting dust whilst the legal wrangling continues, and the (currently FIVE!) solicitors are knocking up their bills.

So, when a concerned friend, trying to be helpful, practical and positive, suggests by email:

"Perhaps you should use your art to take your mind off things?? Organise a couple of tutoring sessions, somewhere? It would give you an idea of the popularity any future regular courses would be and also what kind of revenue it would generate. More importantly, it would take your mind off everything else for a few hours and give you something positive to work on."

I knew he was being helpful, and supportive. But my immediate response was - How on EARTH can I do THAT, when everything is so mixed up in my life, I'm stressed with legal wrangling, half my stuff is poised ready to be sent to the new house, I've not painted for weeks, I've not prepared anything for tutoring, I haven't got a venue to work from, I don't even know where I'd find pupils from, and I'm certainly not calm and relaxed, which would make for a far better teaching atmosphere for all concerned!!!!

So, I took a deep breath, and told him my thoughts. About why I couldn't do what he suggested. And then went off to have another lenghtly phone call with the pushy estate agent, and the concerned vendor, and spent the night feeling despondent about my lack of action and ability to do anything much at the moment. Very very fustrating!!!!

But something must have sunk in. Something started off the seed of an idea......

And by the following morning, I'd made a decision.
Ok, I'm stuck with the situation I'm in. I am working on the best way to get out of it. And it will take time. Professionals are working on their part - the estate agents, solicitors (all of em!), Land Registry, the vendors and purchases all down the chain of properties are all doing their BEST to keep the sale. And until it gets to my turn, there is nothing else I can do. Except stay positive. And do whatever I can do, in the meantime. So, what makes me FEEL positive? What makes me FEEL good? What can I DO to help my self?

I can create. I can listen to upbeat music. I can talk in positive ways to the people I need to speak to. I can paint. I can make a piece of art.

And then today I got this email today from my concerned friend, he said

"Sounds like you need to take your mind off things a little though.....

It's surprising how you can feel better about eveything if just one small thing goes your way. Everyday something good will have happened - you may have to look hard for it but it will be there. Just know that it is there if you search for it. Your whole day will be brighter when you find it.


So, the tutoring may be a bad idea - but you forgot everything else whilst you were thinking about it - even for just a few moments. Now you know that you are not ready to make that step so thats a positive decision - something good has come out of the day. See? It's quite easy to build yourself up again if you look for it !!!!"

And he's right. But he told me that AFTER I'd made my decision. What he said just added to the importance of it, and of acting on it.

So, this weekend, I shall be painting. A picture. One I actually started 10 months ago. It's been sitting in my studio, leaning up against the wall, in all that time. I look at it daily. And it's been at the back of my mind to finish it for a long time. So this weekend, I'll continue work on it. Its a landscape, of a woodland scene, a place near to where I live. The late summer sunlight falls through the overhead canopy of leaves, falling golden on the dry soil below. There is a small stream, with eddies and brown depths, the sky reflected in its glassy surface as it goes along its way. But, just to make the picture "mine" I've hidden a couple within the picture. An erotic couple, embracing. They are within the bark of the trunk of a tree. The picture is in acrylics on canvas. It seemed the right medium at the time to paint it in. But, I've been thinking. I think the painting will be better in oils on the canvas. Oils are by far a better medium, they create a far softer atmosphere, and I love their buttery feel, their soft pungent smell, and the feel of the brush in my hands. I don't need to start a picture, I don't need to look for inspiration. It is before me. I just need to add to it. To build on it. To create. And the acrylics below will show me the way to use the oils on the surface.

That's what I need, at the moment. To get lost in a painting......................

All fired up

The Burton library exhibition isn't abandoned totally.  Infact I think I'll be able to put quite a few pictures in. It's just that I won't be able to do as much for it as I had hoped for, originally. But that's ok. And I'll also be able to hang some of the more acceptable erotic ones there. Infact it was the brightly coloured abstracts like this one that got me the exhibition in the first place!

I appreciate that some of my work though, is totally inappropriate for a public library, so to that end, I'll also be putting in some small framed prints of tigers, other animals, and landscapes. Far more acceptable for some, I'm sure!!! LOL

I'm looking forward to it and know that some friends will be attending at some point over the fortnight to see what I'm exhibiting there and I'll appreciate their feedback. Stuart and his wife are going he tells me, and I know he'll let me know what he thinks of it. He's recently tried to get an article printed in the Guardian newspaper about his amusing experience of being drawn by me the first daunting time, but the paper say that they've only recently printed a similar article so have turned it away. Undeterred, as he's aware of the fickle natures of newspapers, he's trying another publication he thinks may be interested and rings me regularly with any news (yes, pun intended!!).

Last night I attended a meeting for one of the art groups I'm a member of to discuss feedback regarding recent exhibitions and the possibility of other venues in the area for new ones. The usual stuff. Afterwards in the bar a few of them stayed on for drinks and a social chat and the boyfriend of one of them joined his artist girlfriend and was happy to join the group. He's a nice easy going fella and I've known him many years. He sat back and listened as the chat went back and forth across the table. Talks of places to paint, and dates arranged for painting days, where you just set up your easel and paint a particular scene, but with the knowledge that others will be around if you don't want to be a lone woman out painting on your own. And then someone excitedly talked about using acrylics and how much she liked them after years of being a pastel painter, and then someone else excitedly talked of the new acrylic paints that don't dry instantly, but allow you to have a couple of days to still move the paint around if you need to, and at that I really perked up and eagerly asked to know more about them.  Only for the flat phrase to fall on the converstion from the boyfriend overhearing it all "ART GEEKS!" he said. And we stopped and looked at him inquisitively. "You're all ART GEEKS!" he said again, and I grinned. I suppose we are. But it's because we're excited about it, and love to hear of new techniques or paints or where to buy the cheapest watercolour paper or best types of pastels. We're art geeks!  I agree!!!!!

Buzzing with blue fingers

I've come home with blue fingers, and that's always a good sign of an enjoyable day. Well actually, they're blue, red, yellow, purple and white fingers, and I'm hoping that it'll wash off with some success......

I've been to an art workshop today, painting contemporary landscapes in acrylics with a palette knife, so very messy and such fun!!! The tutor first got us to team up with another person there, and create a piece of art one mark at a time, each taking turns to mark the paper in ONE movement only, turn by turn, each only using any two colours we chose - criss-crossing or smearing the other marks on the paper if we chose, or spraying it, or any other way we wanted to make a painting between us. Afterwards we talked about it, and the reactions to it fascinated me - some people HATED doing it as they couldn't THINK in an abstract way, some hated the fact that the other person "SPOILT" their marks, some HATED it because it was abstract and loose and they couldn't think in that way. How very interesting, and surprising, I felt. But then I'm used to doing abstracts and hadn't realised that some people can't think in that way. I liked the way that the fact that I had to wait for my colleague to make her mark, made me think more about my mark, it made it more controlled, and yet part of the control of the painting was out of my hands (and every body elses) by the manner of the creation of the art - most interesting in a psychological way!!!

When we got to start painting a proper landscape, we followed the way the tutor showed how he painted in a very loose style and encouraged everyone else to do so, to the point that we didn't even draw anything before hand, but put paint straight onto the dampened paper and left it to see what it did. The only control we had was to apply torn masking tape as a rugged horizon, that was immediately removed after the first colour was applied, and then sprayed with water to soften the edges. We worked on our pictures, and I got quite into it, but sort of made it up as I went along, as I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted it to look until I started working with the loose effects on my paper, but I put on lots of colour and slowly worked through where the focal point was with my three trees in the landscape, contrasts, lost and found edges, colour scheme and  the over all design of it.

At the end of the session, the tutor got us all to stand our half finished work against the wall and view them all together, to see how we'd all progressed, and he went along them one by one to comment on each one. When he got to mine, which happened to be the last one, he RAVED over it, the "exquisite" effect of it, and took it around to the rest of the class to show it to them. It took me aback abit, as I hadn't expected that reation, but was obviously delighted too by the way he loved it so much! Aw, thankyou!!!!

Afterwards as we packed our stuff up I went to him to thank him for the inspirational day and had a good chat about being a professional artist and standard of workmanship. He didn't know anything about me or my art so we exchanged business cards and he said he'd look at my website when I mentioned I was an erotic artist (I didn't mention that I already do abstract acrylics or the subject matter, but when he finds my "Fantasy Fannies" he'll realise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL)

And if that wasn't enough, on the way out of the hall, literally in the doorway, I bumped into a woman who was coming in to set up for a party that evening, who I'd not seen since last April when she commissioned me to paint her daughters horse, Elliot,  for a surprise birthday present for her - she was absolutely delighted to see me, hugged me in greeting and told me how delighted the daughter was with the painting, and had burst into tears when she saw it. And then introduced me to her daughter, whe was with her, who also told me how delighted she was with the painting, and how well I had captured him and his personality, so that made it doubly good!

So all in all,  I was on a total "high" on the way home!!!!! A verrryyyy Happy Bunny!!!! YAY!!!!

Tarse 2 and Queynte 20

Well this is a meeting of international proportions..... :)

First we have an English fanny - Queynte 20 - depicted in subtle muted tones but still painted in acrylics. Its a fanny I've already painted, but it has such interesting shapes I thought I'd see what it looked like if I just tried a basic colour range but still incorporating all the tones from white to dark brown to give me the depth I wanted. You can see the full colour version on my website here to see the comparison. I love them both, but think these muted toned ones hide the image a bit more for the less exhibitionistic amongst us.

And secondly we have an American cock in full and very strong vibrant colour making Tarse 2. A lot different to Tarse 1 that I painted earlier in the year, but that was for Fitzy and had to match the delicate tones of the living flame painting it is to hang next to. So that gave me full opportunity to depict this tarse in more vivid bright colours. The photo I worked from had good strong lighting in it which gave deep shadows and I was delighed to use those in the painting to trick the eye a little. Because its very difficult to hide the shape of male genitals as they look so very clearly what they are! So as I started painting, I was aware of that and put as many tricks in as I could to hide that fact, and thought I'd done quite well until I'd virtually finished and realised that all looked fine except the left had side of the painting, which made it very clear as to what the painting was. I found that if I blanked off that first fifth of the painting, the rest of it was so abstract as to be anything. Hmmmm....... in that case I'll incorporate some other shapes to confuse the eye. And that's what I did. Abstract shapes. That meant nothing. Except now I've done them, every time I look at them they remind me of something very particular. Perhaps its the way my mind works. Perhaps you can't see it. But I shall be interested to see if you do! And instead of taking them out, I shall leave them, as it makes me smile every time I look at them...........

And I love that I can always see other shapes within these paintings - various letters of the alphabet, a bird, and shapes that remind me of elephants, fire, dogs, deep space, and witches.......

Queyntes 18 and 19 seeing double

Well following on from my last blog post - it seems I've got a great success with the "Hot stuff" painting - and the person it is directly aimed at has fallen in love with it......... for all the right reasons! So I'm a very happy bunny! YAY!!!!


And so on to other things - another Fantasy Fanny to be exact. And I thought I'd try to do the painting just with shades of reds. It seemed a good idea when I started and I was confident that the painting would look good. But then it struck me that it might not be such a good idea after all. For....................er, oh, very obvious reasons!!!! So, I looked hard at what I had painted so far and decided that turquoise and yellows would brighten it and enhance the painting considerably, and that's what I aimed at, and think they do, vastly! I love the colours in this one, and the turquoise adds greatly to the image, to me. But then I'm a big fan of turquoise! So, Queynte 18 it is! Ah, but, there's more to tell. Because I liked the shapes and the tones, and thought I'd try and do it again, but this time with muted colours on a block canvas to see how that went - and I'm delighted with that effect too! You can see its still the same image, but its more "decorative" in its abstraction - a sort of "abstract" abstract in a way! Which was an interesting concept to explore. So that's Queynte 19. Instead of naming it "Queynte 18 muted" which it technically is, I thought it should have its own title!

And I had some interesting feedback re the Fantasy Fannies today - telling me that it was a mistake to put the little woman logo within the picture because then it was obvious what the image was. If I left it out it would be more abstract, and considered more appealing too and I might sell more pictures. I disagree. I think she needs to be there to make the point, even if I lose sales because of it. But I'm interested to hear what you think....................

Doubling the living flame with lust

At the beginning of this year I painted the "Living Flame" painting for a woman buyer in America. It was a style of painting I'd never done with this effect before and I loved the way it progressed. I'd used the "glazing" effect for landscapes and still life paintings but wasn't totally hooked on it until I used it to paint people. Far more interesting, I think! LOL

And then I was asked to do another commission for a buyer in England - Fitzy - who loved the effect too, and that was interesting for me to do it as a more masculine painting, darkening the tones and making it stronger and less feminine. And I loved that effect too...

But this then lead on to a collector of my work who lives in America to suggest I paint an erotic couple in this style. It was something I had considered as an excellent idea already so I was more than happy to explore the outcome. He was interested to see how a painting in this style would look. And so was I. I asked him for his ideas on poses and colours and he quietly commented that he wanted to see what I would on my own without much input from him. Ok, that's fair enough. I understand that he wanted to see what was in MY head rather than me replicate the images in his.

I've been thinking of the image since then, and have been considering various poses for the couple. When I first began I had considered they would be lying down and entwined with each other, but as I investigated into the viability of that, I soon realised that it wouldn't work well as a composition that I was happy with. Ok, then what would........................... and after a while I decided that a standing up pose would be better, hands exploring, but that almost made it less sensual and more sexual. I don't mind that, but it wasn't the effect I wanted. I wanted "erotic" rather than "blatant". I also wanted it as generic as I could make it, so didn't want facial features showing. Hhhmmm...... difficult.................

So, after a lot of images were considered and dismissed, I found one, one that showed the eroticism I was trying to convey, one that hid faces, one that was interesting as an image to look at. And I drew it out, and started painting it I was reasonably happy with it until I was nine tenths through the painting and realised that there were various aspects that I certainly WASN'T happy about. Ok. Sigh. And tear it up....................and ..........................sttttarrrrrrt again..................

Second version was a lot better. I was happier with the composition after I'd made a few small changes; I was happier with the rainbow of colours and how they interacted, and I was happier with the end result........... by a long way! So, here it is, in all its vibrant glory. An erotic couple, in love, their colours mingling, the fire from their lust igniting them, their love enveloping them, she pulls him close as he gently runs his finger up her thigh.

I think my favourite bit is that red curve on his bum......Mmm.... absolutely delicious !!!! :)

And the title?

There's only one that it can be...........

"Hot stuff"!!!!! :)


So..... would you consider yourself and your beloved painted as a portrait in this effect? Is it something you'd like me to paint............... for you?

And start again

I've been working on the erotic couple in the living flame style of painting all week, solidly. It took me ages to find a pose I was happy with, and then I drew it out, and checked that I was happy with the drawing. Started the painting................ was happy with the way it was going, worked long hours on it, and then when it was almost done, I took a break, stood back.............. and started seeing the things I wasn't happy with........... the woman's arm was too thick, the colours were too strong, her head wasn't right, the hair was too dark, his hand didn't look right, his bum didn't look right. There were some good bits, but too many bad bits for me to work around. Nothing else for it................I'd have to start again. Sigh.

So, again I started looking at other images, but there was nothing I liked as much as the image I'd got. Ok, then. Start again with the image and make it so that you DO like it, before starting the painting. And that's what I did. And made sure I was happy with it before starting the painting. And made sure the colours started off pale so that they could build up in the subtle way that they are supposed to. And you know what? It looks SOOOoooo much better than the original one, already! But that's the way it goes sometimes - that the first painting has the thought processes in it, but the second one is the better one, the one that has the problems dealt with, so all I need to think about is the painting. So much better!!!! its flowing..... and that's how it should be...........................F.............L......................O.....................................................................W

Queynte 17

After the success of Nitebyrds rainbow Queynte, I thought I'd go straight onto the next one but try something a little bit different this time with the colours. And keep them to as few tones as possible within the basic colour scheme. The original idea was to try it with three tones - cream, pale gold and mid gold. But I quite quickly found that it needed more depth unless it was to look completely abstract, so had to add some deeper darks and the brighter yellow to add extra interest. I also had to incorporate more texture in the painting, but I certainly think it works as a concept and the Queynte is as interesting as the more brighter coloured ones. I also think it might work well as a black and white image which might be a good idea for another one at a later date....

I've spent the weekend at art exhibitions that I've exhibited at. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and loved seeing my artist friends, loved seeing their artwork and was pleased with the standard of my paintings against the others there. But I didn't sell any. Its sometimes the way it is. Its frustrating. Its a shame, and a pity. I've put a lot of hard work into creating the artwork, into taking it to be hung, in the hope that someone might want to buy it. But they haven't. So, the paintings are returned to the cupboard. Until the next time. On the off chance that someone might want to actually buy them. One day.

And this is the reason that I much prefer commissions. Tell me what you want me to paint, and we'll discuss it. We'll agree a price, and I'll paint it for you. You'll be happy because you'll get exactly what you want, and I'll be happy because I'll be selling paintings!

So, does anyone want their Queynte (Fantasy Fanny) painted? :) In the single colour style seen here, or a brightly coloured one? If you do....................let me know...............

Queynte 16

Here she is - the next one in the Fantasy Fanny group - introducing Queynte Number 16.

It's surprised me how colourful she is (and I painted it!!!!) - a veritable rainbow of colour in this one. But those were the colours I saw when I looked at the photo I was working from, and that's what I've painted in this feminine abstract. I love them all though, whether they're bright or more muted colours, they all have their own personality and character. Perhaps they mimic the personality of the woman they belong to - but either way they are bright and beautiful, vibrant and full of life and vivacity.

What do you think?

The birth of siblings

Well, I'm happy.


And Fitzy's happy.


So, that's good then isn't it!?


The pictures are finished. The "Tarse" and "Fitzy Living flame". And they look good together, I'm happy to say, so that last week of me brightening tiny areas of colour, increasing tone, and keep putting the two paintings side by side to see how they looked as a pair has really paid off. I'm delighted. Its been three months of hard work, on and off, in the production, and I think Fitzy and I had a few weeks of discussion before that before I even started the painting. But he tells me he's thrilled with them, and that's what matters! That means I can relax, with a warm feeling and content smile, and know I've done a good job on them. And I also know that the finished painting is far better than the original working painting. There are more subtleties in it, and the flame is more fierce around the body. I think it adds more to it because of it, especially as its a man in the painting, it makes it more masculine and strong, I think. My favourite bit is the bum on it - the way the bright colours add form and interest.


I've shown the "Fitzy Living Flame" here on its own, and also along with the Tarse painting so you can see the comparison. They are bright and beautiful, vibrant and strong, and although the "living flame" style of painting is subtle it stands strong against the bright and vivid abstract of the Tarse painting. And it certainly didn't when I originally *thought* I'd finished it! Of course the canvas's also bring out the colours of the acrylic paint, which you can see when you look at them in real life but they look slightly muted in these photos. They are painted on box canvases, and I explained to Fitzy that the paintings go around each of the four sides of each painting which I think gives it more of a 3D effect when its hung on a wall. I also had to put an "optical illusion" in the "living flame" painting. As you can see the painting stops just below the knee, if I had carried on the natural tapering of the calf, the picture would have looked like his legs were "pins" and would have looked really silly. So, I had to carry on the calf at the same width when the image carried over the edge to give it more substance. No one would notice particularly when its hanging on the wall, but it would have screamed out as a glaring error, if I'd done the natural taper.


And just as a matter of interest, to me anyway, I have shown two women friends, on two different occasions this week, the two paintings, and asked what they thought, and both liked the "living flame" painting best, particularly the bum on it (!) and NEITHER could see that the abstract was a "willie". Not at all. Now, that interests me, and delights me. That was exactly the response I want - the shape IS hidden! YAY!!!! I've done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep going

Well Fitzy's Living Flame painting is coming on nicely. I'm really pleased with the figure, and think I've added some more excitement to the painting than was in the original working painting that I did a few weeks ago. All to the good! But I also have to consider the "flame" part of the painting, as it is very much part of the image. Instead of painting the figure THEN painting the background, I've painted the two together, building them up slowly, so that the figure is IN the background of the painting and not sitting on top of it, which it sometimes looks like in other peoples paintings.

Earlier on this week I decided that I was close to finishing it. I just needed to do a few more little bits to the flame aspect and it would be done. After spending quite a few hours on it, I thought that when I looked at it fresh the next day, I would think it was finished............... But I didn't. I felt there was more I could add to it, so I kept on painting, only little bits of it here and there, tiny subtleties that slowly built up the background. Great. I must be finished now then. The next day I looked quizzically at it and decided that it needed more depth of colour in parts, more flames reaching up in other parts, and spent a long time standing back and looking at it to make sure. Because that's so important to do. The painting might be created horizontally or slightly raised up at an angle, in this case, but its going to be viewed vertically, so periodically I'll raise the particular painting I'm working on just to check, and usually find that there are a few areas that need extra attention due to doing that. And I always say that however much time I put into painting a picture, its only a tenth of the thinking that goes into it. So, its good to stand back and assess a painting and just "think" about it whilst I'm looking...... making decisions like "Am I happy with the way that the focal point is showing, should there be a stronger contrast in that area, is that area too dominant and needs toning down a bit, do I need to put more highlights in there, or darks against it, which bits are shouting at me that they're wrong? Which am I happy with? Where can I change something to enhance the painting.......?" And so it goes on until I look at the painting and think "If I did any more, I'd spoil it, there is nothing left that is needing to be changed" and that's when I say "Its done!". But................... with this style of acrylic glazing painting, you can go on and on and on, and not spoil it, but add more depth to it here and there. When I first thought at the end of the week that it was done, it was, in a way. But the next day I thought I could enhance it a bit more. The same the next day. None of it has done anything but add more depth to the painting, which I think gives it more personality.

So, yesterday I looked at it after spending a few hours on it, and thought "It really is done now".

But there is something else I need to consider. Something that normally doesn't come into this decision making.

It has a sibling. The Tarse.

And The Tarse is brighter than the "Living flame" painting. It is more vibrant. More colourful. Stronger. More potent.

Next to it, the Living Flame painting looks pale, washed out, weak and ineffectual. On its own, it doesn't.

And they are going to hang together on the wall. So I have to consider that they have to look good together too, to enhance each other as siblings.

So, it looks like I've got to paint some more after all. I want to get it right. I want them to look right together. I can't dim the Tarse -its finished - and its right that it is bright and beautiful with strong vibrant colour. So, the Living Flame picture will have to be darkened and brightened in places. But not all over, just enough to give it depth and credence. But without losing any of the glazed colours that are showing through the white of the canvas and giving the flame effect.

So, it looks like I've got to keep going for a while longer then................................ :)

One down, one to go!

After all these weeks of working on it, I cay say the magic words - "Its finished!"



There's a good feeling of achievement, of a job well done, of reaching the goals I'd set myself. To produce a picture of Fitzy's "fantasy willie" so that it doesn't look immediately like what it actually is, to paint it as a fun and exciting picture, to put some clever technical details in it so that the eye is tricked into some deception over the subject. And this finished painting is tighter on the design than the working painting that I did, more finely tuned, I think. Plus, it's painted on a large block canvas, so I've painted the four sides as a continuation of the main painting, which means that where ever it hangs, the finished image will look more "padded" than just a flat 2-D image in a frame would.

I love the way that the more I look at it the more I see different shapes within the picture - I can see a bird, a fish, an elephant, an oak leaf, a whale tail, and various letters of the alphabet. I love the flowing lines, the changes of colour, the way the eye wanders over the image and finds interest in the different shapes and contours, the way some of the colours mutate into other colours, the flat colour a good contrast to the softer tones painted thinly on the canvas and letting the white of the canvas below it to shine through. Even though the glazing technique that I've used here is really a watercolour technique, it works well enough on the large canvas and makes the painting more delicate in a way, than just flat colour does. Having said that, this is the most masculine of images, so it needs some good deep colour in the painting too, so that it is strong and powerful, and the areas of black paint certainly help to anchor the lighter colours within the painting. So, I'm really pleased with it. Infact, absolutely delighted with it, and Fitzy is too, so he tells me, so that's two happy bunnies over this painting!!! LOL

And just to make the point, that the colours on the canvas are far stronger and yet more subtle than the image here shows. I think it's the sort of painting you can never tire of - partly for the subject matter, the vibrant colours and flowing shapes within it, and the hidden shapes that appear to each person who views it, in different ways. Fitzy said he could see a fire breathing dragon, and tigers stripes in his first viewing of this picture..... and more images will appear, I'm sure! That's what I love about my pictures, when other images appear to different people.......

So, it's done.

But I haven't finished. Not by a long way.

Because now I can start on the "living flame" picture that Fitzy also wants as a sibling to this one. They will hang together, so the colours need to match and enhance each other. I wanted to paint this one first, as the colour was applied flat in places, so by doing those first I got a good feel to how the canvas and paint react together. All surfaces react in different ways, and different paint does too - watercolours, gouache, acrylic and oils all have different feels to them on the brush, and how they are applied to the surface they sit on, and how absorbent that surface is - whether its watercolour papers, and all of those react in different ways too, board, gesso'd board, and canvas, all of those are different in their surfaces and absorbency, so it made sense to get the "feel" of the paint on the canvas before I started the tricky painting, and the living flame will be a bit tricky as it is created by "glazing" the paint.... in that a transparent colour is applied to the canvas (say pink) , then another translucent colour will be applied over the top (say yellow), allowing the lower colour to shine through the top colour (creating orange, in this example) - its a way of colour mixing on the surface, and is far more interesting to look at than just painting one colour.

So, that's it, one down, another to go! :)

Painting sensual sound

Can you paint a sound? I can. I know, because I did it yesterday! I attended an art workshop, and all I knew was it was going to be "landscape in mixed media". Sounds quite exciting. But I was wrong........................... It was VERY exciting!!!

The woman who ran the day workshop was very arty, and creative, and inspiring. She does very vibrant and brightly coloured landscapes using virtually everything that she can, to create her works of art - watercolour paint, acrylic paint, oil pastel, soft pastel, acrylic inks, dried ink, pens, brushes, and collage made from patterns she's created on paper and tissue paper to add texture to her work. So a messy day then! YAY! I can always tell if its been a good art day if I go home with blue fingers! LOL

To start the workshop, we were asked to draw basic shapes in specific colours, a black triangle, a green rectangle, yellow circle, orange swirl, blue oval,red square. And then to say what we thought of the colour and how it related to the shape. For instance, the green was considered calming but the shape of the rectangle was strong and rigid so they were giving conflicting signals, the yellow circle was happy, the black triangle was menacing, and the red being the colour of passion but a square isn't passionate as the lines are too straight. I preferred the orange swirl both for colour and for a shape.

So we had learnt that you have to consider colour AND shape and the message you want to convey by using particular combinations of them.

Next we had to paint sound. And what an interesting concept that is! We were played seven short extracts of music, one at a time, first to listen to the piece and imagine the colours, then to hear it again and paint the colours. I loved doing this! I closed my eyes as I listened to the first extract, so that I was closing off my visual sense, and concentrating on my hearing sense. As I listened to the first piece by Debussy, the soft strains of gentle music filled the room, and I could see pale greens, pale blues, light yellow and pale pink, and that's what I painted - no specific shapes, just abstract shapes and colour. The next piece was by "Afro Celts" and was staccato in sound, with strong rhythm and beat, and I could see bright red dots and orange zigzags. For a gentle piece by Wagner I could see the palest pinks, oranges and yellows with a slightly darker pink floating over it, and for "Bulgarian voices" I could see strong vibrant red and orange and deep purple vertical lines, rising up. Beautiful! and a lovely experience to depict them all. But, I asked the tutor, why hadn't she played us some punk, some rock, and some metallica? She thought I was joking, but I was quick to reply that I wasn't! And told her that I paint to rock and dance music, and music with a strong beat, to help me paint and move on with ideas and concepts, painting techniques and dynamic action! It helps me immensely.

Then we got to the "play" stage where we added paint and water to paper, made prints from acrylic paint applied to ceramic tiles and the paper pressed to it for interesting effects and patterns. We all loved doing that, and it was at that stage that I realised that we were all women of varying ages there, and the workshop was run by a woman. I asked then if the tutor has men on her course, because its very rare for me to attend a workshop that hasn't got ANY men on it (and I've been to many!). She said that men were usually bemused by her workshops. I can see why! I think men would find it difficult, as I think a man artist would look at a colour and try to emulate it in paint, whereas the workshop was more focused on what colour do you "feel" or "hear" than "just" see. An interesting concept, and certainly one that would relate to the more sensual painter I think - like a woman Erotic Artist, for instance!!!!! LOL

After lunch, we started our paintings, using the techniques we'd learnt earlier. Some workshops I go home at the end of the day with a finished piece of art, but this wasn't one of those days. Today was a learning day, to be creative, and try different ways of producing art. I used the patterned paper I'd made earlier to add texture in collage to my painting, I used acrylic ink to create swirls of shape, I used oil pastel to make a "wax resist" to the acrylic paint, I used pastel to make texture on top of the paint, and I went home without a finished painting, but with a lot more knowledge learnt, and with blue fingers!

Queynte 15

Phew, at last... the unveiling of the next Fantasy Fanny! This is .......Number 15.

I still find them fascinating, as I never actually know what they're going to look like until I finish them. I'll paint it in pieces, a scarlet here, a magenta there, orange, lime green and lemon yellow, building it up like a jigsaw. Then when I'm near the end I'll stand back from it and judge whether a colour should be darkened, or if black would enhance various areas. Then, when I'm happy with the colours, I add the white, and somehow that makes it gleam more. The white adds high-lights and interest to the bright colours. And I think the white adds more than that to the painting, as the white is where the light catches it, where it glistens...............

Queynte 14

Well I've been fannying around again this week - up to my elbows in fanny... :) Well, actually, one in particular! This one! Its taken me awhile to get around to doing it, but well worth the wait I think! Its been specially requested by Sweat shop sissy, and I had a request for the colours of it to fit in with the decor of the bedroom that it's going to hang in, in pride of place, over the bed, and I was delighted to adhere to that request as basic colours but added other complementary colours adding high-lights and contrasts. It also helped that the recipient had emailed me a couple of photos of her bedroom, so I could see the colour of the bedroom furniture and incorporate that into the colours for the Queynte too. I emailed her the finished image last week and was told she did the happy dance when she saw it! That's good to hear then!!! :) She likes it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its featured here on Sweat shop sissys blog.

And I was also delighted when I found out the country that its going to - its not one I've sold a painting to before, so that's a first for me! Yay!!




Well, here it is......Whaddduuyyyathink?

Ingrained

I've spent the day getting mucky. A normal state of affairs, you would think for an Erotic Artist !!!?! But this isn't normal dirty mucky - this is arty mucky, involving acrylic paint and palette knives! The sort of day that you come back with bottle green paint down your finger nails, yellow ochre in your hair, a long blue smear down the side of your cheek, and titanium white on your elbows, type of mucky. And what fun I've had getting into that state!!!

I've been to an art workshop where the subject matter was "Venice" and the style of painting was palette knives on canvas. I've never used a palette knife before, and never produced a painting that didn't involve some sort of brush at some point in the painting. So all a bit new for me. It took a while to get into it though, as the paint had to be applied in great daubs of colour straight from the tube onto the canvas, using all sorts of bright and vibrant colours, then smeared across the canvas like you smear great globs of thick butter and strawberry jam over toast - the knife spreading and merging the colour as it formed, mixed, melded, spread and picked up other colours next to it and below it, the whole creating some multi-coloured fluorescent mix of a childs paintbox sort of painting. Some of the paint sticking out in half inch blobs, all of it textured and moulded to form the painting. At the end of the session, I've painted the Rialto bridge, the Grand Canal, some boats, a lot of sky, a lot of water and some buildings, but I can't say I'm happy with the painting enough to do anything with it other than paint over the canvas for something else, maybe, or even throw the whole thing away. I'm not even going to show it to you here, because its not a good painting. BUT, what I have learnt is new techniques, new ways of applying paint, and seeing colour, and ways of tackling a subject, so I've learnt a lot. And been a big kid for the day. But, that's what these workshops are about - spending the day with other artists, learning, finding the inner child, and using that ability for more serious artwork at a later date. Grrrreat fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seeing Double

Well the snow's been useful - it means I can stay in and paint! I've been working on the second, proper painting, of "Living Flame". My spiritual healer friend thought it a big task, and asked me if I'd have problems painting it a second time, and I replied that I doubted it. If I've done it once, I can do it again! So, instead of showing you the painting, I'll show you the two together, so you can see what I'm talking about, and compare them. The "proper" version is as close as I can make it to the original "working painting". They are both in acrylics - used in the style of thin watercolours - but the original is on acrylic board whereas the proper version is on watercolour paper, as it was decided that to frame it, some of the image would be lost under the mount, and if I painted a larger border of background around it, then that could be "lost" under the mount without detracting from the image. Its a good idea to do that, anyway, as its a large image (20 x 16 inches) and since its on watercolour paper, the framer will want as much paper as possible to be able to hide behind the mount and stop the paper buckling.

Its not often I paint a picture twice - I usually get bored - but this painting has been a pleasure to paint a second time, to capture the light, the colour, the line, and tone. And I think she's beautiful, this living flame........

Living Flame

Ok, so no one was interested in the art auction! :) Well it was still worth running it to see if anyone was.


Never mind, I've been busy with other work this week....


I was asked a few weeks ago by a woman, to do a painting in the abstract style of the Fantasy Fannies, but of a virtually whole woman taken from a black and white photo that I was sent, and also the colours were to be in pastel colours, plus she wanted a hidden woman within the image like the Queyntes have.. MMmm.... it took me a while to get into the idea of how to do it. Because the Fantasy Fannies are created from close up photos so the shapes look abstract to start with, whereas this image was most definitely a woman, a gorgeous sexy woman, and the image of her wasn't to be hidden, it was to be kept. So I drew it out as it was from the photo, and then started playing with the colours. Normally I paint bright and dramatic paintings, but I had been asked specifically for pastel colours. So I had to tone down my natural exuberance, and paint subtle colours in a subtle way. The elbow length gloves, hair and panties were all very dark in the photo and I would have normally have painted them black, but decided to make my darkest darks "royal purple" and then that being only the colour of the hair, gloves and the dark shadow between the luscious buttocks. There was a gorgeous white light down the side of the body, coming from a side light in the photo, and for me that was incredibly important to keep, as it accentuated the shape, and added interest to the otherwise symmetrical shape. So, bit by bit, I built up the colours, and shades, using "glazing" as the technique for building up the subtle colours, the colour underneath shining through the colour on top, and adding to the description of the small nuances of muscle tone and body shape. And the strength of colour in the background that made the image look like she was standing separate from the background. I also decided that if I made the woman logo within her any smaller it would have looked like a tattoo which would have spoilt the effect. When I got to the point that this picture is at, I stopped, and thought that I could go on, and do more, but to do so would detract from the pastel colours and the way the white of the paper shines through the paint. So I contacted the woman who had commissioned me, showed her this image and asked her what she thought - and she loved it! She thought the image looked powerful, feminine and sensuous all at once. She loved it as much as I do, fortunately! For me, I love the 3-D shape of the body, and the way the background seems to flow around her like a flame - and this prompted me to call the painting "Living Flame" because it shows the woman as a vibrant, vivid, vital and sensuous woman, with the almost chameleon like effect of being able to cope with her life and the challenges it brings within it.


My spiritual healer friend saw this finished painting the other day and commented that the photo I was working from was excellent quality, infact a beautiful piece of art on its own, BUT that I had taken that image and made something even more beautiful with my colours and depiction of the woman within the painting. I agree with her. This woman is gorgeous.


But all of this is actually the "working painting" - so now I have to re-paint it in the same way but on watercolour paper, with a slightly larger background to it that will give the framer chance to frame it without losing any of these beautiful colours under the mount. At least the second painting will be a lot quicker to do than the first one - because I'm just copying it, whereas the first painting had a lot of "thinking time" in its creation.

Unveiling of the Queyntes

Well now, where was I? Oh, yes I remember! Fannies!! (or for the Americans amongst you Pussies!!).

Just to give you the background before I do the grand unveiling, I wrote a year ago (and it is a year, all but one day, now that I've checked, Wow!) about wanting to do the paintings as a celebration of womanhood - as bright and colourful abstracts of their most innermost secret places. The thought was that when someone has their portrait painted, its of their face with their name as the title - but in this case I wanted the names to be anonymous - so unless the participants reveal it, I won't say who they are. I originally asked for volunteers and at the time ten women contacted me, but I only received good enough photos from seven of them - and these are the original seven here. I hope that more women will be interested in having their "Queynte" painted and I would love to see them all part of an exhibition somewhere for the world to see - because just seeing the seven of them together is a beautiful thing already! I hope to sell any to anyone who is interesting in purchasing them - but at this moment I have no idea what price to put on them because I have put so much of MYSELF in them, I don't know how to put a financial value on it as yet (I will in time, I just need to think a bit about it for a while!). I painted them intuitively - which is a new concept for me - and one I like very much. It was the right way of painting them, as they are so personal, and abstract. The point of the abstraction was so that they, although anatomically correct, are hidden enough in colouring and some of the external shapes to hide the image for what it is. I want them to be hung on a wall so that anyone other than the people who know, would not know what they are - except for something exotic flower shapes maybe, that may just resemble something subconsciously and vaguely erotic.....

They are painted in acylics on 20 x 16 inch boards. The reason I used the acrylics was because I needed the paint to be bright and to dry quickly and cleanly, leaving me time to work intuitively and quickly without the annoyance of waiting for paint to dry (and losing the impetuous of the intuitive way of painting) or of the paint annoyingly merging into other colours and muddying the effect. I liked using the board as it absorbed the paint very quickly, leaving no room for error or a change of colour. Once the colour was put on the board, it stayed there, and other than brightening a colour here or there for more depth, I haven't overworked it to ruin the effect (always a concern for artists!).

At the moment, all the participants are bloggers, but that doesn't exclude any other woman from participating, I won't restrict it to that degree.

All the paintings have a woman hidden within the folds to remind you what the image is about.

I'm delighted with them - I've put so much of myself IN them, and they are EXACTLY what I predicted last year that I wanted them to be - bright, beautiful and SHAMELESS.

So, now they're here - what do you think of them.......