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

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

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 !!!!!

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...........

Exploring to find new depths

A different model for me this week - a male one, and that means I've got to re-think the pose and how I want it to look. And the end result is another drawing that I'm not 100% happy with - it may need a bit more work doing on it and then I'll be happier with it. But sometimes a drawing is just an idea explored to see what happens. I like the lights and darks in this one and there's movement in there, a focal point, something about to happen, something that has just happened. I like the way the boot is not actually on the back of his hand but looks like it might be. I like the way he's pulling it towards him and the thought of what he is maybe going to do next.

Mmmm... perhaps I'd be happier if the picture had more passion in it..... What do you think?

Catching rainbows

I decided to try a bit of whimsy this week with my life drawing. It was just an idea to see what a pose would look like if it was drawn in the colours of the spectrum, and I'm really pleased with how pretty it is! I decided to do it on black card as the colours stand out better, and pastel was the obvious medium as it's instant and bright colour, ideal for my design. I worked out a pose that would take the image well - knowing it had to be the long length of the figure rather than having the figure scrunched up and losing the whole concept of the idea otherwise. The female figure was drawn first in white crayon, then I worked out the seven divisions for the pastel colours, starting with red for the head, descending to violet for the feet. I had considered going down the arms to the tips of the fingers in the blue, indigo, violet, but I think that would have looked a bit too much for the image. It works better that the legs just have those colours and the green fingers are in line with the hip colour.

I'm delighted with the result and could easily see it as a logo for gay pride!

Vanilla skies

I had a real nice time today, painting along-side my artists friends. Although the subject matter was of a vanilla nature, it's good occasionally to do something totally different from the norm as a contrast, to re-establish the importance of the usual things. I produced a couple of simple, brightly coloured landscapes of trees/fields/sky in pastel, and was moderately pleased with the outcome, although pastel isn't my favourite medium. Still, it's always nice to be creative and see what other people produce from the same subject matter as they're suprisingly so very diverse.

I always think its fascinating to strive to create the illusion of a 3 dimensional subject on a 2 dimensional sheet of paper, and its the technical ability of the artist that produces the magic of it (hopefully) by utilising colour, tone, line and contrast to achieve that effect. And even they are sometimes suprised at the outcome and look in astonishment at what they've created and wondered how! I love it when that happens.

I think I might tackle a painting of a landscape tomorrow, but more the sort of thing that I like - a fairy tale castle maybe....