Unfinished business

How do you rate a success? How do you decide whether something has gone right? Mmm... not always by the end result, but sometimes by the journey itself, I think. And that is how I view the most recent painting I've done of Hornymaleuk and my female model. The event was a success, the creative process was a success, but at the moment the finished product isn't wholly a success. It certainly needs more work doing on it, and I can possibly do it without the pair of them posing together for me (because due to logistics it may take a while to organise it). So, I may be able to do it by my imagination alone, but I certainly need to think about how to do that as well.............



So, on to the occasion......... it was good to see Hornymaleuk again, since I've not seen him for a few months, and as he and the model have met before there was no need for breaking the ice between them, they know each others personalities and characters well enough. We had a drink to start, which gave us all time to relax, the mutual telling of dirty jokes also helping somewhat!!


Then, the decision regarding the pose. I had come up with a few ideas before seeing them both so we all discussed the possibilities of using them, the pros and cons, the likelihood of aches, pains, muscle cramps and pins and needles ensuing. Then, since my poses were deemed unworkable in the long term, we worked around finding different poses for them to work with. All this was done with their clothes on, with me walking around them looking for the best angles, composition, lighting and "eroticness" of the poses. There's a very fine line between pornographic and erotic. And in turn, erotic and lifedrawing. For instance, if the man in the composition hasn't got an erection, then it can't be erotic, but if he has then it can sometimes be deemed to be pornographic! And since Hornymaleuk and the female model weren't actually going to HAVE sex, I had to give the impression that they WERE whilst they actually WEREN'T. MMMmm....... so, more thoughts regarding the poses working properly as an erotic image.....

FINALLY, we found a pose we were all happy with. Eureka! But even though it takes time, and I know that it usually does, I have to persevere with it because there is absolutely NO point in going for the first pose I think of, if the models are going to be in untold agonies within three minutes of starting it. It's ok for a photographic pose, because the model only needs to hold the pose for a few seconds, but not for an artists model (and I'm a quick painter!).


So, the pose worked fine, mostly, except the female model had to break quite a bit as there was too much pressure on her hands, but on the whole she did really well, and certainly the pose was easier for Hornymaleuk since he most mostly just lying on his back with a luscious woman sitting on top of him. Sigh. And we call this work!


So, do I like the finished picture? Mmmm..... yeeeessssssss, BUT, (and its a big but), the picture isn't finished. So don't view it like it is. Just count this as a work in progress picture, half done, with the gist of the emotions and eroticness of the image, but it is the under painting, leading on to the finished image. It's *part* of the creative process, and I have hesitated and wondered about showing it to you at this stage, because you're BOUND to look at it and think "that's crap". So, don't look at it as DONE, look at it as part of the journey of getting *there*....... where-ever "there" is! And I don't know where it is, until I get there! So, if you're gonna be critical, I'll listen, but with only half an ear................ cos it's only half done.


There's some aspects of it I really love, and some I really hate, some parts need a lot more work doing on them, on some of the lines, and shapes, on the negative shapes, the divisions of colours, the blending of colours, the lighting, the shadows, well, everything, really!!! I love the use of red, cream, black and gold, so I'm happy with the choice of colours at least! and I think it's a powerful pose, and I think it is erotic as a pose!!


And, as a further comment, it was nice after I'd finished painting, to finally relax (because painting is hard work, and I need to fully concentrate when I'm painting) and sit down and share a bottle of wine with Hornymaleuk and discuss our various worlds and the people who inhabit them. And it was really good to chat with a fellow blogger, in real life.