Abstracting the abstract

With Erotica coming up in a few weeks time, I wanted to do a painting to exhibit there, depiciting a tarse and a queyte in a sort of "abstract of an abstract" using only a very limited palette which would make a more decorative generic image rather than a specific one. So after I'd found the image of a fanny and a cock that I was happy with (and that's actually more difficult than you would imagine! Its not easy looking for either, I can tell you!!!!! LOL ). Anyway, after I'd eventually found the images I was happy with, I had to put them together in a design that was pleasing to the eye, but by using only the basic of shapes and tones to get the image across to the viewer. And added to that was whether to put the fanny to the left or the right of the cock. To start with, I thought it would  be better if the fanny was on the left of it, but they looked like they weren't very interested in each other (so to speak!) so the fanny went to the right, but then the image looked a bit more .....er........erotic than I had planned, but it has to be this way to make them look like they are a pair - a "his and hers" of a painting. Then, once I'd drawn out the design I liked, I transferred it to a box canvas - its quite a large size - 40 x 20 inches plus the sides of the canva itself as I like it when the image goes around the corners of the canvas, it makes it more 3-D I think. I knew I wanted to do the  acrylic painting in creams and golds, although I had to have a slightly darker gold to make the depth of the image, and I've used white (well, actually very very very pale cream to look like white, otherwise the white looks dirty against the warmer creams). And the finished result? Well its here for you to view and I love it for its clean crisp lines, simplicity of shape and delicate colours. And I'd love to do it as a "hers and hers" or "his and his" painting too - and of course any colours can be used for it, to match exisiting decor. So.....my first "Tarse and Queynte" painting. But one of many, to come, I'm sure (so to speak!!!!).

Last night I was asked by a woman I know as a new aquaintance what my job was. When I told her I'm an Erotic Artist she was genuinely fascinated. And couldn't wait to look at my website when I started to tell her about the erotic landscape I'm working on at the moment. And I really enjoyed telling her about it....... I think most people are interested when I tell them.................. I just wish I had more buyers. I know I'm good at what I do, I have talent, and skill, people are interested in my art, I just need to sell more. But....... that's always something that I'm looking into. I've contacted the local airport today as they're asking for artists to exhibit at the terminal. Not with a view to selling, just to promote my art. Sounds very promising too!

And tomorrow should be interesting.... I have a visitor coming to see me. Someone I've never met before. A man. Who wants to pose for me. And he tells me he has a prince albert...............Mmm........ its not often that you mention that in your job description, is it!!!! LOL

The birth of siblings

Well, I'm happy.


And Fitzy's happy.


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


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


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


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

Keep going

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

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

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

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

It has a sibling. The Tarse.

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

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

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

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

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

One down, one to go!

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



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

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

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

So, it's done.

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

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

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

On and off the wall

Its always great to hear feedback regarding my artwork, especially when its hanging on another continent, and I've fondly waved it off to live elsewhere, never to be seen again. So I was absolutely delighted to see the final resting place of one of my queynte paintings this week. It's in Canada, and Sweatshopsissy has kindly sent me a link to their blog, which features the queynte painting I did earlier on this year, hanging in pride of place over the bed. Wow, how wonderful to see it again, and to see it properly framed and mounted and hanging on the wall. It looks beautiful there too, as the lovely frame really sets off the painting. So, thankyou, I really do appreciate you showing me the painting. I also love the tale about the young step-son who thought it looked like a sky diving picture! How wonderful is that!!!!!!! And that's the whole point of the queynte and tarse pictures, that innocent eyes don't know what it is they are looking at! :) But they can still see an imagined image within the shapes and colours.


I've also had an interesting conversation with a friend who loves my new fantasy willie (tarse) paintings, and also the fantasy fanny (queynte) ones and is contemplating having a joint tarse and queynte painting done in pale creams and pale siennas. I agree with her, that the image would be more hidden with such pale colours. I need a minimum of three tones to be able to to the paintings well, but they don't have to be strong tones like black and white, they can be gentle tones like pale cream, warm gold and dark gold. Or they could be the same tones but different colours, like pale pink, pale turquoise, and lemon yellow, or different tones of the same colour, like pale blue, royal blue, navy blue, or if you prefer hot colours rather than cold it could be scarlet, magenta and pale pink. or any permutation of colours at all really. I could make them all work as a painting, to fit a colour scheme for a room. My friend is going to talk to her fella and see what he thinks of the idea............................. I hope he wants it doing, I'd love to to it, to hide the fanny and the willie together in each others contours..... how exciting would that be!!!!!


And just to leave you with a painting before I go off to help set up the exhibition I'm part of this weekend, its this one.It will be at the exhibition and is called "Far far away". Its a watercolour of a planet, or our moon, with the distant universe behind......................... and I love the effect of it. The planet was painted with a brush but I wonder if you can guess the way the galaxy was painted, the way the stars lie in the sky. They weren't painted on, nor was masking fluid applied or splattered on, which is the usual way of creating light in a watercolour. I used .................... salt! But although I've seen salt effects before, its quite difficult to not let it look like salt was dumped on the wet paper. Its all in the wrist action you see !!!!! Either way, I love the painting, I love the effect of it, and hopefully someone else will too, and that too can go and hang on someone else's wall. But maybe not quite as far as Canada ........for this one! :)

Behold - a Tarse!

I've been working diligently on the working painting for Fitzy's "Fantasy willie" painting, and last week I sent him the image for his feedback which I want to be favourable before I start the painting proper on canvas, as he has requested. But after I sent it I felt I wasn't totally happy with it. You see, a willie looks like, well, a willie! And its difficult to hide the shape of it. And the whole point of the "Fantasy fannies" was that the image was hidden. Of course, a fanny is an abstract shape to start with, that helps, but a willie isn't. Infact, its quite....................well..... specific! :)

And that was my problem, and the challenge was to make it look not like a willie, but the shape still there, within the painting....... So, I did the first painting, which is a working painting anyway, and sent it to Fitzy for his feedback. But whilst he was thinking about it, and before he had chance to respond fully with his thoughts regarding it, I decided that I could do better. So, I had another go, and am FAR happier with the result. The image is far better hidden within the colours of the paint. The shapes are still there, but there are more techniques employed to hide the image.

So, here they both are - the first "In yer face" picture, and the second "far more subtle, there, Jackie" pictures. Either are ok as images, either would work as an abstract painting, but I know which I prefer! The colours are softer in the second painting too, which I think is a nice comparison with the "Fitzy living flame" image that it's to hang with, but it could be argued that the colours are more masculine in the first painting. They are still the same palette of colours, and the same that I used for the "Fitzy living flame" image, so they would all hang nicely together, and not clash.

And as for the name - I've found a lovely old English word - "Tarse" - which means "Male genitals" - which is exactly what they are! LOL But, if it was hanging on the wall and someone asked you what it was and you replied "Its an abstract of a tarse", they'd go "Oh!" because they wouldn't have a clue what a tarse is, like the fantasy fannies are called "Queyntes" - another old English word! So, this is my first tarse, but hopefully not my last! :) and if you look up the word tarse you'll find it also means *falcon* which is a nice meaning too for the word, I think! Oh, and its got a man logo in it, like the Queyntes have a woman logo in them, to remind you what it't about.

So, what do you think?