Floral muddles

There is something I have in the past struggled to paint, a subject that should be easy, and is certainly one that a lot of people enjoy painting. It is a subject that is probably as far away from figure painting that you can get. Which is probably why I have struggled on some occasions with it! Because a lot of artists will do landscape paintings, but usually only a few will do figure paintings as well (I know of some artists who are more than happy to paint fields, trees, sky, buildings, water and far hills, but the minute you mention putting people in the picture they shudder at the thought!!!).  But this is a subject that is more specialised, and one that I am certainly not known for!

And the mystery subject is .............."Flowers!"

So when I knew I was going to the art workshop last Saturday I thought that this time I would get it right, I would get over my supposed flower phobia, and do something decent. I even did it all the proper way and picked some flowers from my garden - the previous owner, Anne, had informed me they were "Scabious" when I enquired what they were, as they weren't a flower I knew.  So, I turned up at the workshop with my freshly cut flowers, and sat near my friend Janet, who came over and said "Oh, what unusual Cornflowers!" which lead on to us having a bit of a horticultural  conversation as to whether they were Cornflowers or scabious, and I'm still not sure, as I haven't had a definitive response to my query as to what they indeed are.

I started by arranging my three flowers in the glass vase I had taken for that purpose, and finding the right balance of shape, form, contrasts, negative shapes, and focal point, and then when I was happy with all of that, I started to draw them on the watercolour paper that I had pre-stretched the night before. The tutor prefers Bockingford paper for the white-ness of the paper, which suits me fine, as I prefer it to any other paper that I use, by a long way. She showed us how she paints Wisteria in two different ways - by wet in wet, and by wet on dry paper, both showing different ways of tackling the same subject. And she was the perfect sort of tutor as far as I was concerned, as she didn't spend all day painting herself (well, not herself as such, but you know what I mean!), and let us have most of the day painting ourselves (well, not actually painting our bodies, but..... oh, you know!). So, I was able to take her guiding words to use for my flower painting of the "purpley flowers of no definitive name" and get a good lot of painting done in the day. But, not enough to finish it, but almost to do so.

 I brought the painting home triumphantly, as I knew that I had done a good job. I had cracked the flowers!!! YAY! I can paint flowers!!!!!! 

And last night continued working on it, to the point where I can happily say it is finished, and done in my style, with splatter and a loose wet way of painting part of it, to make it look more lively, and less of a static botanical painting.

I am very pleased with it, with the flower heads, full on, three quarter profile, and full profile, as well as the flower head just about to burst open. And the different leaves, denticulated in shape, with veins showing, and the stalks, with enough negative shapes to make the picture interesting. One of the women at the workshop said that her brain "couldn't do negative shapes" which surprised me, as I learnt to do it many years ago, and can do it easily now. Its just a matter of looking at the shapes in a different way and painting the shapes between shapes, instead of the shapes themselves.

So, here it is, my watercolour painting.

And its title? - well its called "Anne's Scabious, Janet's Cornflowers" and it'll stay with that name even when I find out which one of them is right!!!

So, flowers, done. I can tick that box now!!!!! LOL

Abstracted by the abstract

I go to a lot of art workshops. I've been to many over the years. I have learnt a lot, hands on, and always come away with more knowledge and more experience, which adds to my expertise as an artist. I always say that I can paint anything for anybody, and a lot of that is because of the diverse subjects using diverse mediums I have learnt at these workshops.

So, you would think that maybe I've learnt all there is to know, by now.
And you would be wrong. Very wrong,  to think that, because art is such a vast subject, that I don't think any artist could learn everything in one lifetime.

And you would think that going to these workshops for so long I must have learnt everything I should need to know by now, and sometimes I think that must be the case........

.....and then we had a day like the one last Saturday, which turned everything on its head. Totally.

I knew it was going to be a good one. Even before I went. It was about "Abstract". And that's a difficult enough subject on its own. But I do abstracts already, and enjoy them, and have painted enough of them for other people, who also enjoy them. But, what I have done in the past is the first step into abstracts, and that is when I've taken an image, a photo, of a tangible, solid thing (well, not too solid, in the case of the fannies!!! tee hee!!!) and made the realistic image an abstract in that I've changed the shapes, or the colours, to hide the image, so that those in the know, know what it is, but those not in the know (children and the more innocent amongst us) only see innocence in the art. And I must admit I love that aspect of the work I've done. So, I went along to the workshop with experience under my belt. But I also knew we were going into areas of which I hadn't got any experience, since I've never painted pictures of this new and more exciting subject matter.

There were 11 or so other people attending, and all women, I noticed. Don't men paint abstracts I wonder?

And during the course of this workshop we only spent two hours painting out of the six, and normally I would be tearing at the bit at that point, because as far as I am concerned, the whole point of being there is to paint and be creative. But this time, I didn't mind, not at all, as I was learning. Learning about abstracts.

About painting an abstract idea in an abstract way.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? Until you think about it, really think about it,  when someone asks you to paint "Happiness" and then put a colour to it. Just one single colour. And that was one of the easier emotions to do (for me, anyway!). The first picture here is depicting eight abstract notions - reading from left to right -happiness, sad, anger, misery, feminine, depression, elation, frustration. To start with we were asked to "make marks" with a pencil for each of the concepts. "Happiness" was easy for me, its a burst of wow followed by a large elongated circle rising up and reducing as it flows away. "Sad", "Misery" and "Depression" were more difficult as they're not emotions I dwell on if I can avoid it. And I found it interesting that I depicted "Anger" as a solid cube with bursts of high activity above it. But, of course, everyone else in the class had their own interpretations of each concept, and none was right, or wrong, just different in each of us. I liked the fact that femininity for me is bright, scarlet red, not pink and wishy washy. And that depression was muddy colours, and yet happiness was bright and cheerful yellow. How interesting, and revealing too! Psychologists would have a field day with this one!

The tutor went on to show us her ideas for painting more abstract ideas, like music, maths,  time, and motion. This got me thinking, and when we were able to start painting, with only two hours of the session left, I knew I wanted to paint "Time", but do it my way.

I stood and thought of the visual aspects of time - clocks, daylight, sun and moon, and then about clocks ticking, alarm clocks, the numbers on a clock face, but also the numbers that relate to months, years, weeks, and days. And started to come up with an idea for a painting, a working concept, that depicts time and all the things related to it. The picture here was conceived, drawn, created, and finished within two hours. It could be painted a lot better, and more subtly and perhaps with more ideas added to it. But as a working painting, its a good one. And it surprised me how involved I got in it. Because, whilst I was doing it, I let a cup of tea go cold. Now, that may not sound like much to you, but I love my tea, hot, sweet, fragrant tea. Nothing much stops me from drinking it, except being totally and utterly enthralled with a piece of painting. And that was the case with this picture. And not only that, but someone told me my shoe lace was undone, and I nodded in acknowledgement, but I was too busy to bend down to do it up, too busy to go to the loo, too busy to talk to anyone, or go and look to see what they were doing, too rapt in my art. Time was ticking, both literally, and in my painting.

We had to finish by four o'clock, a reminder of time and its importance. I stood with the others at the end and saw what they had painted, and felt a huge stirring within me. And when the tutor was thanked for the workshop she had given us, I added out loud to it, that I had been to many workshops there, but few had touched me as deeply as this one. And I meant it. Its deep. And its got me.

But then, its hardly surprising, when I come home, and I'm busy painting "Wind" in the oil painting I'm working on at the moment. Now, if that's not abstract, I don't know what is!!!!! 

Tits and all

The art workshop being the first one of the calendar year tends to be a little more off beat than the others. I think the organisers think that we need something stimulating (and messy!) to get our creative juices running. And I tend to agree, as it certainly helps me get my mind and art back on track after the excesses and  lethargy of the Christmas period.

This months workshop was "murals on board" which sounded a bit vague to me. But I knew the "board" would be provided at the workshop, at extra expense, depending on the size we each chose. And I knew I had to take along acrylic inks, ordinary inks, and acrylic paints, and pastels as well. Ok, then, a mixed media workshop... but the sizes of the boards are an unknown, and may be six foot across for all I know.....they are murals after all......

I arrived just as the tutor was explaining her working process. She gave us the option to use the white painted side of the boards on offer, or the plain wood untreated side, complete with all the imperfections that that side offered for use. For we were painting on thick chipboard. She encouraged us to see into the patterns and shapes within the wood and see what inspired us to paint. I've done this sort of art before, and can "see" things within the random shapes, but they tend to be two most definite types of things...... I wondered if I would see anything else ...this time.......

I chose a piece of wood that looked interesting to me - a long thin piece, about eight inches wide by a yard long. And had decided that I would opt for a horizontal picture rather than a vertical. I stood looking at it quizzically at arms length. It was just a piece of wood....what would be within it - what image was calling out to me, what image could I feel......

The tutor joined me, and stood looking at it as well. She pointed out shapes that I couldn't particularly respond to - but I agreed, that there was indeed part of a cat, and part of a few other animals within it. But not enough to call out to me.  But there was ONE creature there that I could see clearly. Surprisingly! A blue whale.... MMm.... what on earth could I do with a whale......!!!?

"Well, that's decided it then!" I said. She looked at me, enquiringly. And asked if I could see any abstract shapes within it, and whether I was happy about making it more abstract? I smiled, and said that doing abstracts was easy for me, and I know that some people struggle "seeing" abstract, both as artists creating them, and the spectator viewing them. But, that wasn't the case for me. Infact, I do a lot of abstracts. She asked politely "What subject matter?" and I smiled and said "Erotic abstracts!" Which caused the usual opening of the eyes as the eyebrows shot up, from her. "In that case, I'm really looking forward to seeing what YOU do!" she said. I nodded, and said I'd see what I could do........

I returned to looking at the board, as she continued around the class with constructive advice and practical help. And nodded to myself, as the familiar images came to me..... yep, the usual two......as I'd suspected, and expected.....

..... figures and faces.........
but the figures are female, and nude.......

That means only one thing then. If there's a whale there, then they must be mermaids......

I looked further at my board, and easily and effortlessly found a couple of mermaids, complete with tails, for me to paint within the surface markings. But, to balance the picture, it needed another one. But, would that be male or female? I stood considering the concept......

.....MMMmmm........If, they were all female, then that made the concept of the picture "Erotic but playful". If there were two males and one female, it made the picture "Erotic but with male dominance overtones possibly suggesting aggressive tendencies". But, if there were two females, and one male then it made it "Erotic with interesting overtones of what two females and one male were going to get up to!" - Ok, then, that's decided that then!

I started work on it - with inks at first to see how they reacted to the bare untreated wood - but wasn't happy with the results as the inks soaked in too much and lost some of their vibrant colour. Ok, on to the acrylic paints then as they are stronger and will sit on the wood.....

....the tutor came to see what I was doing, intrigued with my subject matter. She asked if the three partly marked out mermaids were all going to be women? I said no, one was going to be male, I felt. And she made me laugh out loud when she announced robustly "Well, it depends if you paint tits on them!" And I smiled in agreement, yep it certainly did!

I carried on painting, and did indeed paint "tits" on two, and not on the third, he had "pecs" and a six pack (very nice!) instead..... !

The painting wasn't finished during that workshop. It needs further work doing on it, and will certainly need a lot more paint on it than there currently is. But, I received a couple of emails in the week after the workshop from the tutor, and we had a bit of a chat through it - and I was delighted when she commented

"Your mermaids had rather a compelling attraction I thought, one is obliged to seek out what is going on..... Always a good thing, the longer someone stares the better."

Good, she sees the story that I could see within the basis of the painting, an interesting idea that will form in peoples heads, and which will add more depth to the subject matter. And I told her that I consider that mermaids are "acceptable erotic" by most people - even little old ladies who like chintz, and children find them "nice" and not aggressively sexual. I will certainly work on the picture some more, but not for a while. I still have other work to finish......

But, in the meantime, have a mermaid or two to show you from previous paintings I've done.....  The one on the left is called "Dance of the deep" and is in watercolour. The one on the right is called "Out of the blue" and is also in watercolour but has gold gouache paint in the mermaids tail which gives it far more interest I think, as there's that flash of gold as she flicks her tail and the light catches it. Hope you like......

Snippets

I had two very enjoyable days over last weekend. But the character of each day differed greatly from the other.

On the Saturday the snippets of conversation were "Oh, that's a good picture, Jackie" ..."This is fun, making these prints, isn't it!"........."I love your use of floral shapes"........."I'm covered in black ink, but I think it'll wash off".....

But, on Sunday, the subject matter was a little, well, different...............

"Of course you have to be careful about having paintings hanging at sex clubs, incase the play gets a bit....boisterous"

"We're swingers, and stayed with other swingers last night"

"I've got a load of body casting gunge in me bits, and I'm going to need a tweezer to get it all out!"

"And these three girls wrestle semi-naked in baby oil, and cover each other in whipped ceam"
To which a male member of the assembled group called out "I'll lick it off!" and his wife agreed "and ME!"

Mmm.... now, which day did I prefer........................???

Blogging's difficult when you haven't got a computer, let alone internet access!

Well, the title says it all, really. And I'm still not sure when I shall be getting my internet access, or even my landline at the new address. Why are these things difficult? The people who lived in the house before me had a landline, and internet access. But it doesn't just "sit" there waiting to be picked up, as far as I can tell...... Perhaps I was being overly optimistic, or maybe naive, in the belief that I would just ring up someone on my mobile and they would attach my debit card to their phoneline (or however else they get you to pay, blood sweat and tears?) and - as if by magic - the phone would work. But no, it's not that simple (it never is!). I have had to ring up the new provider, who tells me that they can't find the line (well, it was there last week, where has it gone since then?!) so I have to ring up the Post Office to get a line set up by them, so then the new provider can take it off them. Which certainly begs the question, in my mind, as to why they couldn't have done that themselves in the first place! But, they can't. So, there's a ten working day delay whilst they do all of this (bearing in mind that the line was there for thre previous people only a few days before all of this!). And added to this will be the new telephone provider having to wave their magic telephone wands to enable them to do their telecommunacative stuff (so I'm not getting my hopes up regarding all of that happening at breakneck speed in nanoseconds after I ring them up!).

There's a lot to be said for carrier pigeons................

Anyway, in the meantime, there are still a multitude of jobs to be done in setting up the house. Somewhere to paint pictures, would be nice! And an office to work from (even if it does have a big gap where the computer should be until I can move it there). So, to that end, I've been hunting for furniture. And found some, quite amazingly! But, the multitude of boxes that are currently residing in the office-to-be will have to be moved to the hall, and then all moved back in again after the furniture has been set up....... so that'll keep me busy for a while!

But, it was great to go to the art workshop last Saturday and see all my arty friends again after the summer break. Good to catch up with their news, and to see their faces again, and to join them in the great creative outpourings that make up for these days!

I've missed it.

And loved getting back into the swing of it again. It was about inks and being creative with them - and the tutor certainly made sure we were kept busy all day with it. We did three paintings in the six hours we were there - all with different ways of working with inks - the first was painting with Quink ink - which has some strange chemical properties that means when its painted onto wet watercolour paper, where it is deep black it stays deep black, but where it is painted thinly, it dries golden yellow, to great effect if you can plan what you want to paint with it, and how you want it to turn out....we did a black yacht silhouetted on a lake, with forebidding black clouds above which really looked great with the yellow effect adding to the atmosphere of the clouds and thundery sky.

The second painting was done drawing black ink pen onto watercolour paper, this image of a French courtyard garden, with many pretty flowers and a variety of shapes and textures of foliage. After drawing the image out, we painted the colours with watercolours - a pretty way of painting, and very effective for the subject matter.

But the third picture we did was my favourite - it was done by drawing out an image of a stone cottage (and for us each to decide whether it was creamy Cotswold stone, bleak Scottish stone, whitewashed Welsh stone, or mellow Mediteranean stone) and then we used a mix of watercolours, acrylic inks, heavy black Indian ink, using various effects that incorporated candle wax (to make a wax resist pattern), or using straws to blow the paint and ink around, splattering, tilting the paper to move the paint around, using different implements to make marks, or even as a last resort, to just paint with a brush - whatever came to mind was fine, and added to the overall effect.

Which makes me wonder about the conversation I had earlier with my friend across the seas, who went to an artshow at the weekend, and sent me some photos of his visit - all nice to see, very familiar, and certainly interesting. But, the most surprising image that stuck most in my mind, was the one of the pastel painting being completed by a woman. She was copying a photo of a man on a bike in a street scene – but for me the surprising thing was that she hadn’t done any under-painting – which is so familiar for me to see, particularly with pastels. She was just painting the colour on the white paper and working down the length of the paper starting at the top. That’s really odd! Because the white paper looks so stark next to the colour that your eyes “read” it differently, so its normal for an artist to do an underpainting of colour (which may be muted tones of the top colour, or a contrasting colour to give the top colour some zizz through colour mixing on the paper). Very strange! She wasn’t “painting” the picture from the photo – she was COPYING it. And doing it in an amateurish way – as you could see by the straight line of diagonal leaves on the edge of the tree to the left of the painting. How odd!

And how different from the day I spent at the weekend, being encouraged to be so creative, that anything was acceptable. So long as it was arty!  And inky!

Yep, black fingers again.....

No, I'm not scared of black!

I don't always choose what I paint. Sometimes it's chosen for me.

I suppose I could say no, though. But sometimes it's fun to try something different, something that pushes the boundaries. Something.....well......S C A R Y!

The thing is, that what is scary for me, is usually what isn't for other artists. I know that's perverse, but perhaps my life is upended from normality. I quite often tackle subjects that other artists are scared by. But then, as an artist, I think we have to look at challenging subject matters that we may normally shy away from.

The thing is.... and there always is a "thing" - that the scary subject for me, is, er, I dread to say the word. It's... er....................."cute"  LOL

And that was how I found myself at the art workshop at the weekend, drawing a pretty little girl in a pretty pink tee shirt, and pristine white trousers, sitting on a sun lit patio, with dappled summer shadow behind her, playing with some chalks. Now, that's cute by anybodys standards!!! LOL

The whole group tackled the same subject, as that was the one the tutor had chosen. And although it looked easy and simple, it was actually incredibly difficult to achieve. Firstly there was the drawing, and although she was the only thing in the picture other than the background, she was sitting at an odd angle. She was sitting with her legs loosely crossed, but slightly leaning to one side, but fortunately she had her head down (which always helps as the features are less specific), and there was good shadow. Hands are difficult to draw, as is hair. There was strong sunlight and good shadows, and the dark of the bushes behind her was a great contrast to the sunlight on her hair, and her shoulders in the pale pink tee shirt. And just to add to the fun, there were some interesting shadows and folds in the tee shirt.

After the drawing was complete, the background was put in. It makes sense to get the background in first - because then the colours are right to start with. If you draw the person first then you automatically start to adjust the colours to match the background that's really just the plain paper, even though that colour will be covered by the time its all finished. Since this painting was in pastel, it was easier to get the colour on thick and fast,  but this background was actually split in two - the blacks of the bushes, next to the pale creams and sage greens of the sunlight patio. BUT, if they are drawn with sharp contrast between them, then it looks false and unnatural. They had to be merged together. In this case, by the deep black of the shadows of the bushes dwindling down into the cracks of the stones of the patio.

The next difficult thing was the dappled shadow behind her, this too had to be dark so that she stood out from it. The shadows under her also had to be dark so that she looked more solid, and again the purples merged into the black so that she looked like she was sitting ON the patio and not levitating above it!

After that, it was time to start the little girl - and first her hair, making sure that it contrasted well with the black of the bushes. Then her face, keeping it soft and yet with features, the light catching the side of her cheek giving it more form. Then her arms and legs since the colours were the same for the summer kissed golden skin of her face. After that, it was her pale tee shirt, and the folds and pleats within it, incorporating various tones from almost white to the deepest of burgandy. And then, the last thing, her white trousers. White is always a difficult colour to depict, as it invariably is the most subtle shades of "almost white" but the shadows of the "white" here were quite deep royal purples, dull golds and turquoises.

And then the decision as to what she was drawing with her chalks - little girls tend to draw houses, people, and in this case, flowers.

Phew, done.

And it's a lot more difficult than it looks!

Whilst we were drawing our picture over the six hour session, the tutor came around the room with succinct words of advice. She didn't know any of us so had to adjust her tuition according to how much was needed for each person. She was taken aback by the high standard of artistry amongst us which was good to hear! Even so, I could hear her telling others in the group to darken up their blacks. A lot of artists won't use black in their pictures as they feel that it deadens the image, and will use a dark blue, or purple, or deep brown instead. When she got to me, at the back of the room, she noticed my blacks weren't as dark as she wanted them to be, and told me to darken them, and said "You're obviously not happy using black, are you?" I grinned, and said I wasn't scared of using black at all, I just hadn't got them as deep as I wanted them, YET! She walked off, and must have overheard the woman next to me, who knows me and my work VERY well, saying "You're not afraid of black, are you Jackie, you use it a LOT!". I agreed with her, grinning. And from then on, when the tutor came around to me, she just nodded and said "Good!" or "That's coming on nicely".

At the end of the session, we all had to stand our work up at the far side of the room so that we could all see what the others in the group had done, and compare our work to theirs. The tutor also did a critique and went along the row making sharply critical comments and giving words of advice. My picture happened to be the last she got to, and after being very critical of the other paintings, I was awaiting her verbally ripping it to shreds, as she had the rest of the work. But she jsut said "This one is very softly focused, its ........lovely" and that was it!!!!! Praise indeed!!!! LOL

Tumbled down and put out to dry

The  art workshop I attended this month was for "cottages" in line and wash so since that is both a subject matter I like, and a medium I always enjoy using, even though I hadn't done it for a while, I was happy to go along and see how the day progressed...........

Line and wash is a lovely way of depicting a subject matter, especially landscapes, as the drawing and painting work beauifully in conjunction with each other, complimenting and enhancing. Some artists paint the landscape first, then put on the pen in a loose way, but this time the tutor explained that she draws out the image in a neat way, and uses that as the backbone to her painting, but not necessarily painting within the lines, because that makes it look like a "paint by numbers" image, which is not considered creative.

I liked the way she taught - it was of the "here's what I do, this is how I do it, this is what you can do,  now get on with it" type. Which meant that we weren't all sitting there watching her for two hours and then all having to do the same picture together which stops me being creative and "doing my own thing".

She'd also brought the source material with her, which helped greatly. There were  images of pink roses around windows, nah, not for me. Images of pretty Cotswold cottages in their primped finery, nah, too perfect. Welsh cottages nestling under pine trees, mmmm.... a bit more like it. Cornish fishermens huts at Prussia Cove - now that's more like it, but I've already painted those exact same cottages already, so what else is there? Ah..................this one, now THAT is exactly what I like - a broken down stone cottage with half the roof missing. Perfect! There was a dry stone wall infront of it, and a clutter of farmyard gate, an old wooden pallet leaning against the wall, all of which didn't enhance the picture, so I'll take those out, and just paint the rest. So that's what I did. I started drawing, and loved the image, the broken tiles sliding down the roof, the skeleton of roof timbers silhouetted against the sky, the mismatched chimneys, the creeper on the barn, and the darkened doorways. I was using some Saunders Waterford paper, as the tutor had recommended. I rarely use it as I find it too much like blotting paper, so had taken some that I already had stuck to a drawing board from the last workshop I'd attended that required it. It had been a year ago, but paper doesn't go off, does it?

Well, actually, yes it does, I found!

The minute I started applying the paint I knew something was wrong. The paint didn't flow, the paper was just sucking it up, and the whole image just looked amateurish, because the paint just sat there. Weird. I've never had that happen to me before - and after thinking about it and asking others at the workshop, the nearest I can think is that the paper had dried out. Ok, I've learnt that as a lesson, lets try it all again after lunch and count the first picture as a practice piece.

Armed with a new piece (of the same paper, but some I'd had stored in a bag in a cupboard rather than exposed to the dry air of my studio) I tried again. Redrew it all, and with baited breath, mixed my paint, and dipped my brush in to do the first wash. Fine. Absolutely fine. So it WAS the paper that was off. How strange.

And here it is, the picture I completed on the day. I'm really pleased with it - its got lots of light and dark, the shadows are part of the focal point, there's tone and texture, interest and chracter. I've shown it here in its entireity on the board, and haven't even got a title for it yet. I may cut it down for the mount and frame, and I may add a few more darks perhaps in the corners of the doorways. I'm not fully sure yet. Sometimes I have to leave a picture for a while and decide if it needs any more doing to it to improve on it.

I love this type of picture. Most people at the workshop did the pretty pink roses around the window, but not me. I much prefer the drama and contrasts in this subject. Its got loads more character!

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!!!!

Rose tinted view

Some days are really nice arty days, and yesterday was one of them.

It started when I attended an art workshop. On the subject of ................flowers! :)

Not very erotic, I know, but I still enjoy them regardless of the subject matter. I don't do many flower paintings. Infact there's only ever been one that I've done that I've been really happy with (so, it'll be THAT painting that will be worth a million when I'm a famous artist - and not the erotic stuff at all!!! LOL ). But still, flowers it was, and flowers I did. I had to take my own "subject matter" to paint, and since my mind is full of the  "Erotica" event that I'm exhibiting at in a fortnights time, I just took the first book I could find with a selection of flowers in it. Roses. I like roses. Most people like roses. But I didn't know what I was letting myself in for.......

The tutor started the day by explaining that she covers her canvas in plaster filler to start. I've come across this technique before and was intrigued to use it again. It makes a nice texture on the canvas, and the acrylic paint instantly adheres to it as its like blotting paper, and makes some nice effects as it soaks up the paint. And then you build up the shapes and the colours, and can use a dry brush effect over the paint to make interesting texture as the colours underneath shine through. Lovely! I like it!

But.

(You knew there was a but, didn't you !!)  :)

The problem was my choice of "flowers". The roses. They're difficult to do at the best of times. And I was told AFTER I'd started and was half way through it that I'd chosen the most difficult subject in the class. Ok, I don't mind that, I like a challenge. And a botanical painter friend who was there told me that its always easier to paint flowers "when you can count the petals". Ok, I'll bear that in mind next time. And avoid roses.

So after that I carried on and decided to make the image more abstract, and play with the colours and shapes that were the interest for me in the first place. And I enjoyed the day. But the painting was crap at the end of it. It sometimes happens like that. But, at the end of the day, I'd learnt a lot (avoid roses like the plague!) and had had a fun day with my artist friends. So that was good then!

But later on....... I went to a house party. To a place I'd not been before but I had met the hostess a few times in the past through a mutual friend, and was delighted to be asked to her house for the evening. I wasn't sure how many people were going to be there or what exactly would be the nature of the gathering.

It turned out to be drinks, and delicious food, and lots of chat with a small select group of nice and friendly multi-national people, some of  whom I hadn't seen for a few years, and others I didn't know at all. So, the usual initial conversation of "Who are you and what do you do?". And I answer "Hi, I'm Jackie, and I'm an Erotic Artist" - which seems to be enough to continue the conversation in an interesting way! :) Particularly when they all seemed to be genuinely interested in the subject matter. And vowed to look at my website as soon as they were able.

But..... I think the most amusing part of the evening for me was when the host passed me at one point, as I stood with a glass in my hand, and with no warning beforehand, said out of the corner of his mouth "You're going to have to tell me what a "prince albert" is!". I burst out laughing, as I realised he must have read my blog in the last couple of days. Because there was certainly no other reason he'd have said that to me!!!!

So, to give you a picture to look at. It will be my favourite flower painting of a few years ago. And guess what the subject matter is..........yep, that's right! ROSES !!!

Dancing into the light

Well...........the de-clogging's worked so far! :)

I had a really nice arty day today attending a local workshop on the subject of dancers and movement in watercolour. A lot of my favourite subjects covered in that one then - people, dancers, watercolour, movement, and it also incorporated "lost and found edges" which is a definite passion of mine. Strange woman, you think to yourself. Why is she passionate about that? Well, I just love the way that the paint hides and finds the edges of the subject matter - particularly with people, and that in turn makes them look like they are IN the picture, not superimposed on top of it, which always looks stilted and awkward to me when I see it in other peoples paintings.

The tutor certainly knew his stuff and was talented, informative, well organised, and got us all working hard on two paintings over the course of the day. You could tell how involved we all were by the complete silence in the room (of about 20 people - mostly women, so incredible really!!! LOL ).

Here are my two paintings, I'm delighted with each of them. They both convey the subject matter beautifully and I really enjoyed doing them. And I really liked it when the tutor who worked his way around the room coming to each pupil in turn to look at how they were progressing got to me and said "You know how to paint!" "Yep!" I smiled back at him.... I do!

And for once, it was me who was surprised when I had a more general chat with the tutor. I'd not met him before, and knew nothing of him. He and I had a good chat over the lunch-break, and I mentioned that I'm an erotic artist and likened dancers to erotic art because of the interaction of the dancers and their movements. He agreed about the sensuality of that. I hadn't shocked him that much (makes a change!). He paused and conversationally said "There's a guild you can join, of erotic artists". "I know" I said "I'm in it!". "Oh!" he replied "I used to be!" and we compared notes on our experiences of it, the use of networking through it, and a joint connection of one guy in it. Small world? Mmm...... probably not. He did say that he might re-join again, and I said that if he goes to an Event Day I'll see him there probably........ that'll be nice, I'd like that!

Building an erotic landscape

Whilst I'm starting one painting I am usually semi-consciously thinking of the next one. You may think that's a bit silly to be half thinking of one painting when I should be fully concentrating on the current one. But there is a reason for it. I find that when I haven't got a painting in the planning stage that its far harder to get going on the idea from scratch. Its actually a lot easier for me to have the idea half formed whilst I'm working on another, and then I can flow from one to the other far easier, almost seamlessly.

And that is the case at the moment, as I work on the living flame erotic couple (which is looking really good, so far). Because I plan the next painting to be an erotic landscape, possibly one featuring trees in a woodland setting, and maybe with water.

So, when I attended an art workshop today, on the subject of "landscape in pastel", I wondered what subject matter to take a long as my source material, and decided that the basic "landscape" for the "erotic landscape" would be ideal. Hmmmm........ I looked through piles of my photos looking for something to inspire me, and came across the ones I took in the Lake District last year. Ideal! Well, actually, not totally ideal (can you get "not totally ideal" ? No, I don't think so, but you know what I mean!). Anyway, the subject is ideal. Its the weather that wasn't. It was a dull day. Because it rains a lot in the Lake District (an awful lot in the Lake District!) and the day I was there it was overcast with the threat of rain. And that doesn't make for good photos. But, if you're only there in that place for an hour in your whole life, you've got to make the most of it, and take the photo, even if the lighting is all wrong. And that's what I did..................

And that's what I worked from today for my pastel. The picture I did was ok, not excellent, but ok, but then that's good for a workshop. I enjoyed doing it, I enjoyed the day, I enjoyed being with my artist friends. A couple of them asked me during the day if I was going to hide an erotic woman or couple within the painting, and I smiled. And at the end of the session, when the tutor took his final look at it, I casually said the sentence that usually has a "shock effect" on all the other tutors I've said it to.............. the one that is "I'm an Erotic Artist and I'm planning on hiding an erotic couple within the painting............" And then I wait. For the stunned expression, the look of shock and horror. And this time, it was me who was surprised. Because the tutor nodded in total understanding, and started pointing at various parts of the painting saying "Yes, you could put one here, or here, there, or over there.............."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still, it was nice to have that response, even if it was an unexpected one!!!!! LOL

Erotic weekends are good fun

I've had a really good Erotic Artist weekend starting with interesting conversations in the pub on Friday, followed by a portraits in oils workshop on Saturday and the Guild of Erotic Artists Event day on Sunday. Phew!

The workshop went really well, the tutor who was running it certainly knows his stuff and is laid back in his approach, but full of useful tips for learning how to paint portraits. My painting wasn't finished in the time spent, but I was actually happy with it as an "unfinished" piece. The sitter was a fascinating mix of a woman, she was half Irish and half Pakistani, so had gorgeous bone structure and a delightful personality to go with it. She was very spiritual too, so full of life and vitality, looked many years younger than her true age and was a joy to be around and to paint. Plus an old friend I've not seen for a year or so was there too so it was great to catch up with her again.

Then on Sunday it was the Guild of Erotic Artists Event day, and I’ve not been to one for the last two months, due to various logistical reasons, so it was good to go and catch up with everyone there again.

Since it was a glorious sunny day a few people were sitting around outside chatting when I arrived, and I noted the car park was newly laid with hardcore (are you allowed to say that word in relation to the Erotic world?!) and packed with cars.

I was delighted to see one of the guys as I walked towards the Studios, who always greets me warmly with a hug and bright smile. We exchanged pleasantries, before both deciding we were going inside for a refreshing cup of tea.

And what a transformation, from my last visit! The kitchen area has been revamped and is a lot brighter and more welcoming, and still with the welcoming caterer in attendance to cater to our needs. Another hug with her as I placed my order for a cup of tea and bacon buttie!

The Guild Secretary by then had seen me from across the room and came for another hug and warm greeting, closely followed by his brother with a big bear-hug to outmatch even his brothers!

Then a face appeared that I hadn’t seen for a year, so more grins of greeting and as I said hello to my photographer friend. We always seem to find a lot to talk about so it was good to catch up with him and compare notes about promoting our artwork.

He and I were still chatting as another couple appeared – their happy and smiling faces are always very easy to be around, and we all stood together as the entertainments of the day started, but before that the Guild secretary followed by the other founder member had a few words for the assembled throng. It was the seventh anniversary of the Guild being formed, and as usual they had positive and uplifting words for the members, and was delighted to say that a beautiful cake had been donated by members which would be cut later on in the day, although with all the beautiful decorations on it, it was a shame to cut it! There were various photos in icing sugar of different events that were poignant for the Guild over the last few months, and they were featured on the cake.

Then it was time for the entertainment of the day. The first was by a woman who gave us a brief and informed history of Burlesque before showing us an alluring example of the way to remove stockings as two other girls also removed elbow length gloves. I had a chat with the women later and she was most passionate about her love of Burlesque and the way it seems to be very acceptable and appealing to women.

The next was a delightful surprise, as it was a belly dance by a girl who obviously knew what she was doing. Her outfit was black velvet with silver and diamante detail, and as she shook, shimmied and undulated, the light flashed off her beautiful outfit, adding to the lovely feminine movements of her rounded form as she danced to the beat of the Turkish music.

As if that wasn’t enough entertainment, we were also treated to a model starting almost nude, then being wrapped in black, red and pink pvc bondage tape, the opposite of a strip-tease but most interesting all the same and she certainly seemed to be enjoying it and all the attention she was getting!

Whilst all of this was going on, the body painting artist was intently painting a bra on a woman who wasn’t wearing one! She sat in the heat of the lamp, as he patiently painted every detail for her, and from where I was standing, I had a lovely viewpoint through a gap between one of the barn upright supports and the partition wall, which gave it a real erotic voyeuristic effect. When I mentioned it to him afterwards he said he wished he’d known as he’d have asked someone to photograph it. Its always a delight to talk to him, his lovely laid back style and delicious sense of humour always appeals to me.

I did had a long chat and interesting chat with the smiley couple about being comfortable with body image, and the differences between what women are happy with compared to what men like. We also discussed the different types of clothing that we felt happy with.

Then it was time to cut the cake, and we were all handed large wedges of it, to celebrate the occasion. And very delicious it was too! I was able to catch up with another couple then, who are very supportive of the Guild. He showed me a drawing that he was very enamoured with, and I admired it with him, as we talked about buying and selling art, and I told them about my latest commissions that I’ve been working on for some weeks but are almost complete now. Both of them were most interested to know about them as I described designing and painting my first “Fantasy Willie” acrylic painting on a large canvas, and the “living flame” style of painting that I love to use for painting bodies, with the glazing technique of laying one translucent colour over another letting the colour under it shine through the one on top. They said they’d have a look at my website and blog to see the effect I was talking about.

It’s always interesting to hear what other people are doing in their work, and a delight when others are interested in what we are doing in turn. Late in the afternoon, I had a nice easy chat with the videographer, as I had noted him quietly videoing the various entertainments of the day.

Almost time to go, and I’d taken one of my “Fantasy fanny” canvas’s to hang on the wall but wasn’t sure where it was going to fit with all the new hanging that the Guild secretary has done recently, but he said it would fit in easily and was very appreciative of the bright colours in it as he pointed out where it would probably hang.

Time to go, a quick chat smiles and hugs with everyone who was still there, and off into the late afternoon sunshine with a warm feeling of being with my friends again.

So, all in all, a busy but interesting weekend. I'll tell you about the conversation in the pub at a later date................. :)

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

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!

Big scary tiger!

Sometimes the world doesn't take you to where you're expecting to go.

I went to an art workshop today, to a place I know very well, along with people I know very well. And I expected the day to go the way it normally does. The world has a pattern I am familiar with, and I tend to follow my own template within that pattern. Its what I expect. From previous experience, long since followed and understood. And so, I expected the same today.....

It wasn't difficult. The workshop was entitled "Animal in pastel" and the woman running it does beautiful pastels of dogs, cats and horses mostly. She also had brought along a stunning pastel of a hare, along with some landscapes, and some portraits. She mostly works on commissions of people and their pets. Particularly pets. I knew all this before I went. I knew she did pastels. I CAN do pastels, but am never as happy with them as I am working in oils, acrylics or watercolours, because I prefer a brush or pencil in my hand. I like the fine point you get with those tools. With pastel I can never seem to get the fine detail that other artists do, some very beautifully. So, I have a huge chunk of pastel in my hand and don't achieve the fine detail that I like, even as a loose painter. I don't mind getting dirty, as you always do with pastels. Its just the end result I don't seem to get. But still, that's all background information. I go to the workshops regardless of the subject matter because I ALWAYS learn from them regardless of the subject matter and the medium. EEEEEEVVVVVEN if it's a still-life in pastel - which would probably be my least favourite choice of art workshop!!! :)

Anyway, on to to-day. Last night I sorted out all the stuff I would need for today - art bag, pastels, pastel paper, kitchen roll, sketching paper, pencils, old shirt to wear, old towels, newspaper to catch the pastel dust, and the photos of the subject matter. I knew I wouldn't be drawing a domestic dog, although wouldn't have minded a fox or a wolf, maybe, for the interesting colours and tones. Nah, I much prefer cats. Any cats really. Big cats, domestic cats, lions, tigers, leopards, panther, any of those. That's what I do. Cats. Ok, I found a good selection of photos of big cats, and tigers in particular, and went along to the workshop armed with them. Sorted!!

But the day didn't go to plan. Not at all. The pattern didn't follow the normal way of things. It wasn't because there were only four people on the course instead of the expected 18 or so. It wasn't anything to do with the weather even, that was unseasonably warm and sunny for the time of year. No, none of those things. It may have been down to the tutor, who chose to do a beautiful Alsatian dog for her demonstration. That MAY have had something to do with it. But I still can't account for the fact that my big scary tiger, the one with black and white stripes, the one with huge amounts of burnt sienna, and staring yellow eyes, turned out like it did. I just can't understand what went wrong!!!!! How can it have happened? How COULD I have produced this painting from my carefully collected photos????! What went so terribly wrong??!

MMMmm........ I can only put it down to the fact that the photo was very appealing. And the fact that I REALLY enjoyed the drawing the subject matter, and really enjoyed doing the pastel. REALLY! And I am incredibly pleased with the result. And I don't normally like pastels!!!! And I don't do cute!!!

(The painting isn't signed because I haven't cropped it for a frame yet, but other than that is is all but finished).

Its all very worrying, this. I'm SUPPOSED to be an Erotic Artist! I think I need to re-consider.................................... LOL !!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scaring teacher

It's been a while since I went to an art workshop, but, I think, important to do because it opens my mind to new painting techniques, and painting alongside other artists is always good both for the soul, and for learning. Today was a watercolour class, which is a medium I enjoy very much, although I haven't done much in watercolours recently because I've been doing the Fantasy Fannies in acrylic (and although I use them as watercolours, they still react in a different way to watercolours themselves). So, good for me to use watercolours. The subject matter was not one I've done for a very long time though. It was ..... wait for it............... flowers! Pretty flowers - hellebores, to be exact. Mmm...... flowers, not very erotic is it, a bit vanilla. But that's ok. I can do vanilla. In short bursts. I can cope.........


......The tutor was very proficient, and taught us in stages, we first drew out the picture in pencil, then masked out the flowers with masking fluid to protect the white of the petals, then put a wet wash of colour over the background letting the colours merge into each other on the paper. After that had dried we painted the "negative" shapes of the background against the leaves, which made the background colours shine through. I love "lost and found" shapes so my leaves weren't fully formed which gave the image more interest as the brain can fill out the details. Then we painted the darks in between the leaves and petals to give the image more depth, and make the petals stand out more. Then it was time to remove the masking fluid and paint the shadows on the petals themselves and pick out the yellow of the stamens and picking out any other fine details, like the veins on the leaves and leaf litter below the flowers in their woodland setting.



The tutor wanted the whole class (of 18) to put out their paintings at the end of the days session, leaning them against the wall, so that we could all see what the others had done. She had not met any of us before so she didn't know our names or standard of worksmanship, but she was pleased at the general result of the group. She went along the paintings as they leant along the wall, giving a few words of encouragement for each painting. Most weren't finished. The point of workshops is not to expect to take a good finished painting home with you, but to have learnt the techniques being practiced during the day, and to be able to use them in other paintings in the future. So the tutor went along each painting, giving constructive criticism, until she came to mine. She picked it up, and commented on the background washes saying that it had "character" which pleased me immensely. She liked my painting, and made a few comments about it, she liked the "calligraphy" of the artwork, and said that the artist obviously knew how to paint flowers and had probably done the subject matter before, as she was just putting it down to move on to the next painting. There was a general titter in the room that stopped her in her tracks, as I said "Er, can I just say, I DON'T paint flowers, I'm an Erotic Artist, and if I had had time, I would have hidden a naked woman somewhere in the painting!" and she smiled and said quietly (and maybe a little condescendingly?) "Yeh, but not really you wouldn't" to which I emphatically nodded and said "Yes, REALLLLY!" which stopped her in her tracks as she did a marvellous double-take and said with great regret "But, WHY haven't you done it today, I WANT to see it!" so I said that when I have chance to finish it, I'll email her a copy of it so she can see MY version of todays painting. It might not be for a few weeks as I'm working on a commission at the moment, and that will take priority, but I'll do it, and send her the image.



I can just imagine she's gone home tonight and her husband has asked her if she's had a good day, and she'll say "I had this scary woman in my class today, and you wouldn't BELIEVE what she's going to do with my hellebores!"

French fancy

Before I show you all of my many faceted fannies I'll just tell you about my holiday! I've just had a much well deserved week in the South of France and I just fell totally in love with the beautiful colours there. Such purity! Such lovely bright pastel shades. And the Cote d'Azure is so well named (well, perhaps they put some thought to it before they named it!) - the sea really IS azure. And clear. And so very appealing in its beautiful depths - you just want to dive in and luxuriate in it. And the buildings are gorgeous shades of yellow and orange, apricot, peach and cream, with shutters of blue or green. An artists paradise! I've taken loads of photos and can see loads of paintings coming from them. Big wow factor.

And today, before I've had chance to properly get my breath back, I've attended an art workshop and the title of it was "Mediterranean light"- how apt is that! The tutor did a beautiful pastel of Monte Carlo - and I was able to tell him with a grin that I was actually THERE on Tuesday!!!! Yay! So I could totally relate to the colours he was using and the viewpoint he was working from. I chose to do a panoramic viewpoint taken from a tiny hilltop village called Eze, just along the coast from Monte Carlo - and when he saw my photo he said that he'd stood in EXACTLY the same place to do the same painting! He reckoned there was loads of paint splattered around that viewpoint from all the artists that had stood in the very same spot! So I'm in illustrious company!! The painting has the bay of Nice in the far distance, the next cove is of Ville Franche, and the headland jutting into the ocean is Cap Ferrat. I'm pleased with the painting - its a good rendition of a beautiful view overlooking a beautiful part of the world. Very very beautiful...........

Unexpected responses

I attended a workshop at the weekend, one of many that I go to throughout the year. This time we were painting a Cornish harbour scene in watercolours by one of those step by step demonstrations that I dislike so much as they leave no room for your own artistic input. Not that they're made for anything but learning the technique of the artist who's teaching, so they don't expect you to use your own creativity much! This particular artist knew that the group was of a high standard so he'd brought a challenging painting for us to do. Which was fine by me. We had to draw the boats, sea, harbour wall, cottages on the hillside in the middle distance and sky above. Then he showed us how to paint the sky and hillside, followed by the middle distance, the sea and reflections and boats (boats are always a difficult subject, not that water and reflections are much easier either!!!). The tutor walked around the room, scanning everyones work and adding bits of advice as he went. Of course he didn't know any of us so he didn't know the standard of artists he was dealing with. Any one of us could have been the sort who ask "How do you make purple?". So he flitted around the room, looking at our work and adding his tutorly advice. And the bit I liked was when I could see in his eyes that he knew that I knew how to paint, even when my painting was only a quarter into the painting process, he could tell. And I liked that. Very much. I liked the respect I could see. As the day progressed, my painting progressed, and he could see I was enjoying doing it (and I was, even though it was a step-by-step painting, because it was such a challenging subject). And he brightly said "I can see you'll be doing this sort of painting again, won't you?" And I smiled. He must have been aware at that point by the muffled sniggers in the background, that he'd said something amusing. But he wasn't quite sure what. And I said, grinning, that I didn't normally paint this subject matter. And because he was a polite and interested guy he enquired "So, what do you usually paint?" and I smiled in a friendly and outgoing way and loftily said "I'll tell you at the end of the session!". He was intrigued. And five minutes later he was back again and said authoritatively "Tell me what you paint" and I replied, firmly, but again with a smile, that I would tell him at the end......

We carried on painting trying to finish the paintings in the alloted time, and at the end of the session, we all sat around in a group and each painting was put up infront of everyone else and comments were made on it, each person said what they had got out of the session and the tutor added any comments he felt were necessary. When he got to me he asked me my first name "Jackie" I said, and he took my painting off me to put it up for the others to see. He asked me what I had got out of the day, and I said how much I had enjoyed it even though I don't like step-by-step workshops and it had been a challenging subject which had suited me admirably and I was very pleased with the end result of my painting. He added a few comments about my painting, then, infront of everyone, said again, very authortively "Now, tell me what you do!" So I smiled and said "I'm an erotic artist, and if I was painting this picture myself I would incorporate a pair of lovers in one of the boats in the harbour, or hide them within the painting, perhaps making the distant hills the silhouette of a naked woman". And smiled as one of the women who knows me reasonably well quipped, "The couple are in the upstairs bedroom of the cottage second from the left!" His response was "Do you have a website?" and I smiled and said yes I had and would give him the details of it. And then a couple more people there asked me for my website address too - including the elderly woman sitting next to me, who I don't know particularly other than a smiling and pleasant woman who looks like she might bake cakes for the local WI or be a keen gardener. She was certainly the last person in that room who I expected to ask me for my erotic website address!!

And people do still surprise me by their response to my artwork. I was in the pub over the weekend and saw someone I've not seen for very many years. She's in her late twenties now and I've known her very well since she was eight. I know her family very well too and it was a delight to bump into her as I've not seen her for probably ten years or so. We hugged in delighted greeting, and she asked me what I was doing now and I said "Well, I still paint but I've changed what I do now" and she asked me what I do and I said "I'm an erotic artist" and her eyes widened in that way it does with people when they're not expecting the answer they've got and she said "Oh yes, tell me more!" and we had a really interesting conversation for the rest of the night about erotic art, art in general and erotic things, and I loved every minute of it! We also talked about our mutual travel experiences and the sex hotspots of the world we'd both visited and compared notes, but that's another story!!!!