Going up in the world

I had a real good painting session yesterday on the Royal Crescent of Bath painting that is my current commission. It's taking longer than a painting would normally do, but that's because of two reasons, which together make a larger practical problem. Firstly, its in oils, so its taking ages to dry between stages, and secondly, its a block canvas, which means that I can't keep it vertical AND stand it on a surface if all of the sides are wet with drying oil paint. So, you would think, put the canvas horizontal then, and that would be the logical answer. Except that's not how you paint pictures. If they are painted lying flat on a horizontal surface the verticals in the picture get lengthened to compensate the eye. Painting it on the vertical, or at least a strong diagonal will help to view it better for painting. But, a picture isn't viewed from close up, its viewed from a few feet away, so the artist should always stand back a bit every so often to make sure that it looks good still from that distance away, and that the tones are right, the shapes are right, there aren't too many "coincidences" (that's where things in the foreground fit exactly into something that is in the background, like if  a cloud shape is exactly the same shape of a tree its behind,  or if a house roof in the middle of the picture ends exactly where the horizon ends, that sort of thing) and that it just "feels right" to the artist.

So, all in all, the picture has to be painted vertical, and from a distance a way. And I can't do that, because of the wet paint.....

I'd done as much as I can, up until yesterday, and I stood contemplating the picture, with a mug of tea in my hand (one of my best thinking times, whilst drinking mugs of tea!!!) and I was itching to get on to the next stage, and knowing that it might be a week or more away before I could do anything whilst the paint dried. MMm..... that's not good enough, I want to paint it NOW, whilst the momentum is there, whilst I feel like doing it, whilst I'm in the floooooowwwww....

I know!

I've got an idea!!!!

The obvious one really!

And easily remedied...

....I'll stand on a chair, whilst the painting sits on my work surface on the flat, and I can both let all four of the sides dry, because they're not being affected, and see the whole of the painting from a distance, because I was far enough above it, to see the whole picture from a distance of four feet or so away. YAY! Ingenious!

And because I was in the flow, and able to carry on with my momentum, and was playing the right sort of rock and dance music that gets me going, the painting went well, the colours were right, the paint went on thick, and fast, and now has movement within it, with the texture as well as the flashes of colour put here and there.

Who'd have thought it! My best painting aid this week, was a chair!

Decluttering the dust

Its been an extremely productive day, art wise, extremely! And yet...... I haven't once picked up a paintbrush to paint or drawn anything or produced any artwork at all today. The nearest I've come to any artwork was a pastel drawing of a topless woman that I framed for the Erotic Guild of Artists gallery, the next time I go there.

No, the reason I say I've had a productive art day is because I've had a tidy up in my studio - how exciting you yawn, and yet it has been! I've thrown virtually nothing away except odd scraps of paper with scrawled notes long since written (and acted upon) but what I have done is put all my reference art books together on book shelves, I've loads of them on subjects as diverse as figure drawing, fantasy art, big cats, sex, erotic art, favourite artists, women in art, more sex, photography, sex positions, Australia, New Zealand, how to capture light in paintings, and more sex positions (well, it IS art, honest!!!!). As well as those I have a whole load of art magazines, gallery catalogues, and photo albums for reference subjects. I have files for various useful papers, and more notes on scraps of paper to be acted upon. And that's all before I get to the paints (watercolours, acrylics, oils, gouache), water pots, brushes (for watercolour and also oils/acrylics), palettes, and other collected accoutrement's of the active artist. And at the end of moving most of the things to slightly new positions, I have a whole load of something wonderful ........ Sigh! Yes, I have S P A C E !!!!! Loads and loads of it, to spread out in, to work in, to have freedom to fill with art and NOT CLUTTER! And I expect that when I get to use that space I'll produce better artwork because I'm not having to work around piles of papers and pots and brushes that I'm not currently using! So, yeh, its been a productive time!!

Yesterday the woman who commissioned the freebee Christmas card design back in June came to collect it. It was the first time she'd been to my house and we'd not met before. We got on well enough and as we chatted I showed her the Three kings design I'd done for her, which she was delighted with. So I was happy too! I had a few paintings stacked up in my studio, ready to go for exhibitions, and showed her a few of them so she could see what else I did, she knew I did pen and ink drawings but didn't know what else I do - and she said what most people say when they see my work - she commented on how diverse I was , and I agreed, I am! I only showed her the sexy large lips kissing I've just finished, a French village landscape, a Venetian night scape, a dramatic English Gothic landscape, some tigers in a snowstorm, a family of swans back lit under a tree, an old Cornish fishermans hut, a pair of fantasy unicorns in a woodland glade and an oil painting of an old country cottage with faces hidden within the flower garden (and that's only a SMALL amount of what I do, because I kept off the erotic stuff!). She was impressed with me and my artwork, and asked me how much I'd charge to paint her two children' s portraits. She said she'd discuss it with her husband and come back to me. So that was a good productive visit too! Yay!

Now.. where did I put my favourite paintbrush... and should I categorise all the art books alphabetically into fantasy/cats and SEX - nah, I haven't got one complete shelf long enough for the sex stuff!!! :)

People watching

When I'm out and about I tend to look at people with an artists eye - thinking how I'd love paint them if they're exceptional in anyway. The other night in the local take-away there was a stunning looking blonde girl who'd come to collect her order, and I could hardly take my eyes off her - she was gorgeous, with blonde shoulder length hair, neat features, snub nose, large dark brown eyes and very slim petite body. I just wanted to paint her, she was so lovely. Fortunately she didn't catch me staring at her, although the way she looked, I bet she was used to everyone looking!

A day or so after that, I was doing my supermarket shopping, when I noticed an electrician sitting perched on top of one of the tall fridge units, intently looking at something out of sight above the shoppers. He was drop dead gorgeous too, so I couldn't help but stare at him. Dark hair, good looking with a cheeky grin, dark eyes and an athletic body. Sigh. Very nice. He was busy doing something I couldn't see, but as it seemed so incongruous that he was being ignored by everyone, I felt I should speak to him, caught his eye, and asked if he was for sale too? His eyes twinkled, he smiled, and said he could be. Gulp (wishes do come true!) and said it was a pity he didn't have a twin because then I could have two for the price of one! Temptation indeed. That made me laugh!! What I could do with twins!

I've got a half finished painting of a nude woman in my studio, and have been looking at it for the last couple of years, wondering if I should finish her off (in a painterly sort of way, I mean!) and what I should do to do that. I'm not fully happy with the painting, as there are aspects of it that need more detail putting in. I like the idea of the subject matter - the back view of a woman, with her breast in silhouette, her full buttocks resting on her feet, as she suggestively runs her fingers through her hair. The painting is called "Without a care" - technically, its all done, but there's just something making me think I can do more to improve on it. So, I'll leave it on show, until I get a brainwave. I tend to leave paintings lying about my studio as a reminder of things to do, but just occasionally, I think I need to have a tidy up and put things away.

I'm also half way through the first pussy portrait which I am itching to get on with and finish off, and get on to the next ones. I want them to have a connecting theme, and that works best when they are all painted chronologically close together. If I struggle too much with this first painting I'll end up doing it again once I've got going on the other ones, and got into momentum with them. So..... I'm off to do some painting.........

Next Step

Almost done on my new website, just fine tuning really and tidying up the loose ends. Then when its live, I can get back into proper painting.

Last weekend I did a painting of a moody and dramatic seascape in oils, which is still drying in my studio and filling it with the gorgeous aroma of oil paint and turps. Its always an inspiration to paint when that smell is in the nostrils! I'm really pleased with the way the painting went, with the waves crashing up over the partly submerged rocks in the foreground and drenching them in foam and spray, with a dark and menacing sky above, and a dark forbidding sea on the horizon. The whole thing was painted in just three colours - Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and Titanium White over an acrylic under-painting of Indian Red. The purpose of under-painting it is to give more depth of colour to the finished painting, but also because of the Indian Red colour, its given the painting a subtle pinky glow to it, which adds to the moody blues and browns of the oils, giving it more shades of colour and adding more interest. I'm pleased with the result although it'll take me a while to think of a title for it.

Lucy Felthouse is wanting some more erotic images for her Fantasy Nuggets blogspot, so I want to get on and do those for her. Plus I want to do some sexy images of male couples for my website.