When even my laid back sympathetic open mindedness isn't enough

She googled "Artists in Staffordshire" and my name came up.

I'm still not quite sure why, since I don't live in Staffordshire.

But, nevermind, work is work, and I know people find me from various places.

She chose me because she bought the house she currently lives in from someone also called Adshead, and the name seemed familiar to her.

She found my artwork on another site and liked what she saw.

We spoke a couple of weeks ago and she told me what she wanted.

A drawing of herself, in the nude, but discreet. As a present for her husband to celebrate their first year of marriage since Paper is the wedding anniversary gift for one year.

What a wonderful gift, I told her. Ideal, and different, and totally apt!

She came to my house yesterday to discuss it further. And to pose for me.

I showed her other pictures I had done, of other women in the nude. I talked about my huge experience. I talked about past drawings and paintings I had done of other people. I talked of the reasons why they wanted their particular pictures doing. I talked about nervous people I had drawn who felt afterwards that it was therapeutic to be drawn by me. I talked about my various and many experiences. I talked about how open minded I was. I talked about how used to seeing naked people I was. I talked about the fact that naked people are the same as a vase of flowers/bottle of milk/house in my world and I treat them all as objects to be drawn regardless of what they are. I talked about the fact that all women look beautiful. I talked about being comfortable in your own skin. I talked about all manner of things to make her feel relaxed.

But none of them were enough.

She just wasn't happy taking all her clothes off for me.

To be able to draw her.

Which made the fact she wanted a nude drawing of herself slightly more difficult to achieve.

But......

She is happy to send me photos of herself. In the nude.

Which helps enormously.

But in a way I feel I've let her down somehow.

Because, I've never had this happen to me before.

I can usually calm people with their experience of posing nude for me.

They find it a positive and uplifting experience and feel happier within themselves that they have taken that difficult and challenging step to disrobe and pose for me.

But, this one didn't.

Seeing beyond the clutter and re-seasoning

Sometimes simple things aren't quite so simple.

Or at least the illusion of them being simple is actually quite complex.

MMm..... I'll explain.................

The other week I was asked to do a little commission of St Wystans church in Repton in the county of Derbyshire. No problem, I'm very familiar with the church and the village and have painted St Wystans before. An easy job.  Simple, I thought.

W r o n g  !

It took me a while to realise it wasn't going to be simple.

It was easy enough to go and take the photos of the church, so I had the right images to work from. The woman commissioning the painting had asked for the spire, yew tree and lych gate to be in the picture. Which meant that I had to be standing back quite some way from the church to include the tall spire. No problem. I took a load of photos from various viewpoints knowing that I would possibly use two or three for information for creating the painting.

When I was ready to start the painting, what I considered to be a simple little painting, I looked through my source photos for the suitable ones..................and realised......................that there.......................was...........something missing....................from the information I required. Like....................I couldn't see all of the church AND the spire AND the lychgate AND the yew tree behind it AND the clock in the church AND the arch by the side of it. Because anyone who knows Repton knows that there is a stone arch next to the chuch. Without it, it could be ANY church really. Its the arch that makes it SPECIFIC. And the problem was..................I couldn't see the whole of the arch AND the church. The reason being......................street clutter. Cars, loads of 'em, parked or being driven on the road, street signs, lamposts, and general clutter, none of which helped me see what it was I was trying to paint.

And added to ALL of that...............was the photos I had were of the wrong bloody time of year!

Who'd want a picture of trees without leaf, of heavy dark shadows across the road, and a feeling of bleakness about the picture. There had been no mention at all of season for the commission, but I bet you the woman doesn't want a cold February to be the day depicted in the picture. No, she's going to want a warm April spring day  or a nice day in June in her picture. MMMmmm........................ Ok then, artistic licence is requred, a hell of a lot of it!!!!!! :)

Here's the photo I used as my basis for the painting, and below it is the finished painting. A simple little watercolour of St Wystans church. It's like playing "Spot the difference" except, there's so many differences - removal of five cars and a white van, a set of  unphotogenic traffic lights, two street lights, a flag pole, a notice board, a church fund donations board, a litter bin, two unappealing roadsigns, a wall, overhead cables, strong shadows, a dog with three legs and the cross-eyed monkey. Well, ok, maybe I was joking about the last two, but the rest are certainly there!

So, here it is...... the simple painting.

Not so simple, is it!!!!! :)

Inspiring others

Just in my short blogging life I've seen the birth of a few blogs. Its fun to see, how they burst forth upon the world and develop and evolve into a thing of beauty. I know mine has developed since I first started, and I like the change in it, and the people I've met through it - both in real life, and in blogland. And its been good to know that I've inspired two other people to start blogging in the first place - blog virgins! - who are both getting a lot out of it, and pleasure from the subjects they write about. The newest of whom is Racy Redhead - an exhibitionist submissive (what an exciting mix that is!) who already has made some exciting posts including some very interesting (to an erotic artist) photographs of herself in some compromising and sexy positions. I can see a lot of inspiration for more erotic drawings coming my way!! She's also the latest participant of the "Pussy Portraits" collection, and had a lot of fun taking the photos with her cameraman of choice!

So, just to let you know I haven't forgotten the Pussy Portraits at all - nor the Erotic landscapes which are taking priority over them, as they're for a deadline, and the others aren't, as yet. Plus, in the background, I've got other things happening which may well take me more into another offshoot of art................ I'll tell you about it when I've finished setting it up!