Scarlet woman

After various conversations this week regarding stockings and suspenders, I thought it might be a nice idea to do an erotic drawing of some! I'm half happy with the image.... for me it needs more dramatic darks in it to give the lost and found edges that I love in a drawing, which make the image settle more into the background. But this was just an exercise in an erotic drawing more than anything else. I did it with a water soluble black pen and neocolor water soluble wax pastels, which entailed putting the pen and pastels dry onto the paper, then using clear water brushed over them to mix the colours and add shading where necessary. I think I might to it again at some point, perhaps in dry pastel on black paper, creating the mid-tones and high- lights or maybe even on scarlet paper putting in the darks and lights with conte pencil. I've called the drawing "dressed to thrill" and its up to the viewer to decide whether she's dressing in anticipation of going out to meet a lover, or undressing in front of the lover......

Ever so slightly pissed off!

I always am, after an exhibition, when I've not sold a painting. You'd have thought I'd have stopped it by now. I've had enough experience of them, for goodness sake. But I don't. I still experience that low, that dip in my good spirits. I can't help it. I know its only a small local exhibition along with other artists, and not a big important one, and that I'm a good artist, with talent (because I'm told often enough, by various people), and that its just such a small percentage of people who walk through the door to view the exhibition, who actually want to buy, and have some wall space they want to fill, and money in their pocket to pay for it. I know all that. And still I get a slight depression over it, because of all the hard work I put into a painting, a hanging of paintings, an exhibition, the expectation and feeling of excited anticipation, and then it comes to nothing ...........
.........But ............when I sell a painting............. that's a totally different feeling altogether! That feeling of euphoria is the best feeling in the world! I'm on a natural high for days, its like winning the lottery and all birthdays rolled into one! That someone likes my painting enough to want to buy it, and wants to hang it on their wall so they can own it, and view it for ever more, and don't want to spend the rest of their lives not having it around them. I love it! They're buying part of my energy - part of me, the energy I put into painting an image, the talent I have, the expertise, the effort and ability - all of that rolled up into a picture to hang on their wall.

Feeling colours

Since I've stated that the colour I feel within me as a person is gold, I've been asking other people this week what colour they "feel" and had some interesting responses. Some people can answer this question within a minute, with certainty and a positive forthright answer. But others I've asked just look at me blankly and reply that they don't know what on earth I'm talking about and couldn't possibly give me any sort of answer to this question. Why is that I wonder? I know as an artist I understand and think colours more than most people do, so is that the reason? Or do our brains just relate to some concepts easier than others? When I asked some artist friends yesterday what colours they "feel" only one couldn't reply, but I had the responses of "light red" from a passionate and happy extrovert guy, "orange" from an up-beat and caring woman, and "red at the moment but blue normally" from a currently stressed and hard-working female! I shall continue to survey people and am intrigued at the replies I'm getting so far.....


I've recently finished a painting that I'm quite pleased with as a concept. Its of a naked big breasted fantasy woman, with multi-limbs in various positions, portraying her as multi-tasking, and able to juggle many things on different levels, simultaneously. It's brightly painted in yellows and golds and deep prussian blues, using the pour-on technique that I love so much as the background, to give fluidity to the image and more of a fantasy feel to it. I've called it "Everywoman" and I think many women will relate to it, as they juggle jobs, relationships, family, and other interests.