Getting back in the swing

It all seems so sweetly natural...to have the internet back, to be able to blog again, to read and reply to emails. And yet I've waited almost two whole tedious months for this.

Its dragged, and yet, it's gone quickly too. As is the way with the passing of time.....

Only two months left of the year and its been such a massive year for me, the B I G G E S T and most challenging ever. Sorting out my life, saying goodbye to the past and moving on, to the future. A future that may be partly uncertain, but hopefully full of all sorts of interesting mentally and physically stimulating things, and fascinating people and new experiences, too.

It is a future with good friendships from the past, some old, some newer. There is a strength within those friendships that feeds various facets of my persona. Some vanilla, some less so. The Guild of Erotic Artists continues to be a good base for me, and I value the help and support I get from the members. It has been with deep regret that I have been unable to exhibit at Erotica at Olympia this year, partly through constraints of time, partly through my personal circumstances, partly because I need to fully concentrate on doing it and can't at the moment, and partly due to the large financial outlay it involves. But, as in all things, maybe when one door can't be opened, another opens in its place, and I am always happy to peek through other doorways to see where they might lead me.

Infact, I did just that, on Thursday.

It was a new doorway, a big one, one full of promises of exciting things to an Erotic Artist........

...and through that doorway I met someone...... a woman...... a beautiful dark haired woman.....who inspires me to want to paint again. She may even be my next muse. But we need to talk further about that subject, and I don't know if our paths will cross again, but it they do, I shall draw her, with the greatest of pleasure........

Weary but upbeat

Well it was hard work, but it was worth it. Worth spending  eight weeks working and planning for it, worth spending five hours setting it up, worth chasing up the need for lighting (that I had been promised in the first place!) worth standing on my feet for 10 hour days trying to sell, worth my knees, ankles and feet burning with aching, worth the mental and physical tiredness.

It was worth it for the reaction I got for my "Fantasy fannies" banner, and the fannies paintings themselves. And for the tarses paintings. It was worth it for the conversations I had. It was worth it for the commissions I will get from it. It was worth it for the connections I've made. It was worth it for the promotion I've had. For the radio interview I was asked to do. For the praise I got. For the work I'll get out of it. And the sales I made.

It was worth it for the friends I saw there, particularly the ones who had travelled to see me. I've not seen the Erotic writer Lucy Felthouse since the last Erotica and it was really good to catch up with her.

It was worth it to see the outfits of some of the visitors - women in sexy oufits and tight corsets, men with boobs, women with cocks, the human dalmation, the leather, rubber and fetish gear.

It was worth it for seeing old friends made last year, and new ones made this.

It was worth it to see the other artwork, and meet up with the other artists. To see my various friends from the Guild of Erotic Artists.

It was worth it for the conversation I had with the guy who was only there because it was too wet to play golf that afternoon, he had never been to Erotica before and would never go again, and wondered how a "nice girl like you" got into erotic art. So I explained, with a smile, that I'm quite happy to paint dog portraits, landscapes and houses if he wants to commission me. But I get far more feedback from doing erotic art!

And it was worth it for the convesation I had with an attractive couple of my acquaintance who had been invited to a dinner party and were taking a bag full of goodies they'd bought at Erotica, along with them. The bag, on closer inspection contained three pink vibrators and other smaller vibrating devices. It also came with an invite to join them which I had to decline with regret as I was too tired to be sparkling company. But I am intrigued as to how their interesting meal went, and how well the vibrators went down...............so to speak....................... :)

Its Erotica time......

I'm always hyped up before an art exhibition. The thrill of knowing that now is the time to show the art that I've been working on since the last one. To take the stuff that has meant me working late into the night, and missing weekend fun, to continue working on. The confidence in knowing that the art is the best I can take, that there is something for every price range, that there is a good diverse selection on offer. The joy of looking fowards to seeing my artist friends again. Knowing that I'm going to have some interesting chats with different people I've not met yet. Meeting new viewers. Some will look quietly at my work and walk quietly away. Some will look with lots more interest, poke around for ages in the browser and then will walk off (whilst I've been holding my breath thinking they are DEFINITELY going to buy SOMETHING!). Some will look with more interest, find something they like, and buy it. And some will RAVE over what I do, will tell me that its fabulous art, that I'm a clever girl, and will be REALLY excited about all of it and place large orders for commissions from me.

 But there will also be conversations that I am not expecting. There will be offers for things that I hadn't considered before. Some will take me my surprise. And you can never really be ready for those, because you never know what they're going to be....

Last year I was offered cheap advertising that turned out not to be what it first appeared, and caused me a lot of aggro having to sort it out afterwards. I was offered the chance to hang my fantasy fanny paintings in a selection of international night clubs, and that didn't take off either. I was told I would be painting a picture for a sheik, and that didn't happen either (well, not yet, anyway!). But also I had a long and most interesting conversation about erotic art with a lovely man in a dress. And the best bit was when I met the bloggers who had come along. The ones who had their "fantasy fanny" on the wall. The ones who quietly said "I'm -------" and looked with great interest at the bright and beautiful artwork that was their fanny. They knew. And I knew. That it was theirs. But no one else did. Whether there will be any others who come along this year, I don't know yet. But if you do..............come along and say hi..............

Almost ready and counting

I've spent the last six weeks working towards it. It's so close, I can almost smell it.

The aroma of................................... sex, money, and good fun! :)

Otherwise known as.......................... EROTICA !!! 

YAY!!!

So I'm just sorting out last minute jobs - printing out price lists, sorting out order forms, framing pictures, and the usual job of chasing up the printers. Do they all work to the "last minute" ? When I want to know well beforehand that I've got everything together, and am trying to be well organised. So when I rang them on Thursday to see how my print  printing was going, the guy on the other end of the phone asked me when I wanted it by? "Last Monday!" was my reply, which took him aback. He printed them off last night for me to collect today, only for me to find that some of the stuff hadn't been printed off at the size I'd specifically asked for - to fit into mounts that I've got, so the appature sets the size I need. fortunately, I checked them whilst I was there and the new sizes were done whilst I .........waited.....................

So, that just leaves the last thing. The new thing. The thing that I've not done before, but have wanted to do for many years.

The calendars.

They may only be small, they may only be my first ones, but they're all mine.

But, that leads me to wonder how many I need printing off. Am I going to sell all of them at Erotica? Should I leave some for afterwards? Will I sell them all in the first day and wish I'd ordered five times as many? Although they're NEXT years calendar I'll really need to get rid of them all by February because everyone has a calendar by then................ MMMmmm...................... How.............many?

Socialising with the Erotic Guild

As usual the sun shone brightly on the Guild of Erotic Artists event day, the car park was full, (always a good sign) and a few new faces joined the familiar ones.

There was quite a bit of diverse entertainment for the day - starting with the Jade magazine awards for the top three articles of the year. The next part of the entertainment was a couple of raunchy songs from one of the female Guild members dressed for the part, who then stayed on the stage to have her elegant foot body-cast as part of the days fascinating demonstration. Her foot was angled on a triangular wedge of stone to give it a more appealing shape whilst the body caster explained that the stone would become part of the foot in the finished sculpture to add interest. He explained the procedure as he went along and answered various questions from the audience, although mostly from one source I noted!

During the afternoon, everyone took the chance to be out in the warm sunshine as much as they could and during one conversation with the Guilds official videographer he told me about the 24 minute video he had produced of Erotica at Olympia for the last two years that would be featured in the Guilds next DVD. I was fortunate to get the chance to view it later on, as I am exhibiting again at Erotica in November but this time in the art gallery and wanted to see the layout there to remind myself of the placing of the stands. It was also good to see myself and my "Fantasy Fannies" stand of last year on the video. I discussed with the Guild Secretary where my stand is going to be this year and I picked up a lot of helpful advice and suggestions regarding the show.

It was good to see another particular Erotic Artist again, I've not seen him since last October but I enjoyed the chance to have a chat and hear how his career is going. We discussed the recession and how its affecting us all with lower sales than we'd like.

Towards the end of the day, the Guild Secretary asked me if I'd be happy to write an article about the Guild for "Milk Cow" magazine (featuring the 1940s and 1950s lifestyle) and after a little discussion of the best way of tackling it, was happy to agree. It looks like I've got the job as the Guilds journalist now as well as the the report writer, but that's fine by me and I was delighted to be asked.

It's not possible to talk to everyone as these events but its always nice that even in saying a brief greeting to people that it's done in an affectionate way and that indeed was the case with one of the artists as he gave me his customary warm hug and friendly grin as he passed me as I carried on my conversation with someone else regarding art shows and his experience of them. We talked about doing demonstrations for them and how much the public like them, and how the artist benefits from it.

I only managed a brief hello and goodbye with a couple of the other artists but they were busy chatting to others every time I was hoping for a chat. But these social occasions are like that and hopefully I'll catch them next time.......

Happy second birthday blog

I was going to say "Happy second blog birthday", but I've only got one blog, and "happy blog" sounds a bit overly joyful, so its "happy second birthday blog", whatever a happy second is - well, one way or another, you've got the drift - I've been writing my blog for two years now! Yay!!!


And I do love writing the blog, and receiving the feedback I get from it, either on the blog itself or in real life. And I love the friends I've made through it - I'm thinking of one in particular, and he knows who he is, on another continent, but who is very helpful and supportive of my art and what I do. And this week I've had a chat in real life with Fitzy who has been been supportive of my blog and art too - it was good to have a long chat with him and discuss the artwork he wants to commission from me, and I'm looking forward to meeting him at some point in the future, when we can sort out the logistics.


Other than than, I've started to draw out another Queynte, with a view to starting to paint it soon, so that's also exciting - as I'm never quite sure what they're going to turn out like until they're finished, which is odd for me, normally I know exactly what the painting is going to look like, but not with these fantasy fanny abstracts, which makes it more fun, and a bit more difficult for me, but they always seem to look alright in the end, so they work however they're created!


And my good mate Lucy Felthouse sent me a link this week for an article she wrote about her visit to Erotica in November - its here if you'd like to read her article.

So, what do you do when its your blog birthday - bake it a virtual cake and blow out the two candles? Ok....... I'll do that then! :)

Feedback and feed forward

I've had some really lovely feedback regarding the Fantasy Fannies, since I did the Erotica exhibition last week ....... "Wow! A celebration of women and sexuality done in such style. Well done!" .... "The single most amazing and unique thing I've seen - what a gift! Best of luck" ....."Fantastic and a lot of fun. Never seen something so weird look so beautiful!!" ...."Superb, subtle, sexy!" ..."These paintings are amazing!"....."Beautiful flowers!".......

.......its always good to get feedback, to know that others appreciate the work too... So thank you to those who told me that my stand was the best thing at Erotica, its very much appreciated!!!

And whilst we're hurtling along towards Christmas, I'll mention that I still have the ideal Christmas gift for erotic art lovers - the newly published Guild of Erotic Artists Book Volume 2 at £22.99 plus packaging and transport costs. And as well as that I have the Guild of Erotic Artists Book Volume 1 at £10 plus packaging and transport costs. Or £30 for the two - what a bargain! - (plus packaging and transport costs). I featured Volume 2 the other week and the details are here. Volume 1 is pictured here and is equally as lovely and has 160 full colour pages of 25 featured artists/photographers/sculptors (but not of me, it was printed before I joined the Guild). It measures 11 x 8 1/2 inches. Both books are soft back and are ideal Christmas gifts, individually or together......... email me if you're interested.......

Erotica'd !!!!

Phew, well I'm back, I did it, and BOY was it FUN!!!!!! and also bloody hard work - I'm not used to standing on my feet for twelve hours non stop, and trying to sell at the same time!

Right, to start at the beginning..........

When I arrived on my stand, I was firstly struck by how small it was, and secondly by how badly lit it was. I hadn't ordered lighting for the stand as I had been told that it was light enough up on the gallery where I was situated. Well, that was true, to a degree, and in some places it was light enough, but not where I was! So, off to pay for some lighting and even though it added to the overall costs by a large amount, it was well worth every penny of it! Because my stand "shone" with the lighting on the vibrant fannies! It took me five hours to dress the tiny stand (including hanging around for the electricians to do the lights). But at the end I was happy I had done the best with what I had. Then, back to the hotel for an early night, and then..........

The first day, and I had been told by someone who has exhibited there many times, to watch the body language of the people passing, and I learnt during that day what that meant. Because some people walked past my stand without even a glimmer of interest at it, me, or anything. Of course that may have had something to do with the fact that on the next stand were two gorgeous virtually topless girls (except for their tasselled nipple cups and very little else). But also, I know that not everyone likes art, regardless of the subject matter (and I thought it was reasonably interesting.......................... ) :)

Anyway....... I learnt during that first day to watch the people, and their reactions. Some smiled at the "Fantasy Fannies" title, some smiled at the art. A lot of them loved the bright vivid colours, and a few of them went a REAL WOOOWWWWWW over my paintings, and the concept they convey. One woman got really very emotional over the beauty of them, which deeply touched me. The fannies are everything I love in art - a unique personalised portrait of a part of your body that normally isn't painted, they are bright and vibrant, they are a private joke, and the most interesting of conversation pieces - how good is that!!!?? and certainly those who understood the concept, loved it!!!!! A success then! Well, yes, it was for the effect the fannies had on the viewing public. But not on the other artwork I'd taken with me. There wasn't a vast amount of interest in it at all, but that may have been partly due to the smallness of the stand and not being able to display it properly. It was certainly worth taking though, so people could see what I was capable of. One of the highlights of the show was when a complete stranger said to me "You're a clever girl aren't you?" and one woman said that my "fannies" were the best thing at Erotica! Wow! Really???

I certainly had a lot of interest in them. Women really related to them, and some men did too. I'm happy to paint "cocks" as well as fannies, but this project is so new, I haven't had chance yet. I was asked if I'd paint one of the fannies for an erotic museum, and if I'd like to exhibit them at swinging events in clubs in London, New York and San Francisco. I also discussed the possibility of the fannies being in an article for a raunchy women's magazine, so I think that the promotion of them has started now, and that will open other doors.

And as you would expect, there were some interesting visitors there. Most people were dressed quite ordinarily, and then there were the more, er, interesting ones - the man in the auburn wig and the "fat suit" dressed as an exotic female dancer, complete with sagging pointy boobs in a red pvc peephole bra, and matching thong hanging down at the back, with a wodge of black public hair at the front, was a scream. The girl as the "dog" on all fours being led around on a collar and lead was cute, the various slaves in collars and leads was to be expected, the girls in corsets looked luscious, the men in dresses, the transvestites, and the cross dressers, all added to the fun of the show. And that's what I love about it so much, the dressing up aspect, and "playtime for adults" aspect of it.

And of course, the friends who visited, some travelling quite some distances to go to the show. It was really really great to see them, and catch up with their news. And best of all, was the bloggers who went - six that I know 0f, and some of them had their fannies on the wall for the world to see. And of those who made themselves known, it was great for me to put faces and names to their fannies.

So, all in all, a good success. I just hope I've "sold" the idea enough for others to want to participate.

Oh, and most amusing moments - were .......

When I was asked why I called myself "Fantasy Fannies" - and I replied " I don't!!!"

When I asked a woman if she had ever considered having her fanny painted and her reply was "No, I haven't, I'm not very happy with it at the moment" (that left me non-plussed!)

When I asked two women swingers if they wanted their fannies painting, and one replied "If I ever want it painted I send you a photo of me flange!"

So, picture of an exhibition. A fanny exhbition. Well, that's different, isn't it???

Queynte 12

Phew, I've done it! Got 12 fannies to take with me to Erotica. I was hoping i'd get it done in time, burning the midnight oil. And here it is....

Coming ready or not

Right then! What's happening this week.....? Oh yes, I remember! EROTICA!!!! :)

I haven't stopped since I decided five weeks ago that I was going to do it. I knew it would be a huge learning curve and it certainly as been!! There's been so much preparation to do - find and buy various items like a browser, all the hanging equipment, picture mounts, decide which images I'm going to sell as prints, write an explanation of the Queyntes, and what to do if you want your own painting commissioned. Design my flyers, design a banner, get all the information to the printer, print some of it myself to keep the costs down, and even so, the printers bill alone would feed an African village for a year. And then pick up all the stuff from the printer, and insert the prints in the mounts, bag them all up in protective sleeves, sort out what original artwork I'm going to sell, and bag and price that. My lunch over the weekend was all of two minutes, standing by the fridge eating leftovers from the day before, before returning to work again. Because I want it all to be right. I want to be the best I can be in the time I've had to prepare, to show the visitors what I have and what I am. I know I've got something in everyones price range, from small items to large, presuming they like the images, and some other different artwork images from the fannies. I don't know what the response is going to be to the Fantasy Fannies but so far its all been promising.

When I collected the flyers from the printer on Friday, I quickly ascertained he'd printed a quarter of the flyers I'd asked for. So it was a good job I hadn't left it all to the last minute! I waited an hour or so whilst he printed off the other three thousand. He's a nice lad, and we happily chatted whilst he fed the copier with reams of paper and guillotined them afterwards. He told me that other customers of his had been in this week and seen my brightly coloured flyers depicting Queynte 2 with my details printed over the top, and the words "Fantasy Fannies" being very prominent, and had noticed them with great interest. One couple had been in, and the guy had seen the flyers and started sniggering to himself. His wife couldn't see what was funny, as he sniggered and mumbled about "fantasy fannies". He pointed it out to her, and she caught on straight away what she was looking at and said "Oh, yes, I see!!!!" and her man looked non-plussed and said "What?". The printer tactfully pointed out that he was looking at what it said it was! And still, the guy didn't get it! His wife had done by then, and was laughing, but he'd totally missed it! And I think, that's part of the fun of these paintings - its the ones in the know, enjoying a joke against those who aren't!!!

In the pub on Friday night, I went to say hi to a friend of mine, he was chatting to a mate of his who I didn't know, and introduced us by saying "Jackie paints fannies!" which quite understandable was a good conversation starter!!!! I spent the next five minutes explaining how and why exactly I paint fannies - to the great interest of my new acquaintance. He asked if I did willies too - and I said I certainly would! He was certainly interested in the idea!!!

Another friend of mine in the pub, who is very interested in art in general and this latest project, asked why I did erotic art. I said it was the most difficult art I could think of, and that was part of the appeal. But I like people, and this is just part of what makes an adult, the erotic side to us.

Right, on with the last few things I need to do - and I'm looking forward to meeting the bloggers who are planning on coming to meet me - Wow, meeting them in real life!!! Very exciting :)

The pull of art is great, and its one of the things I love so much about it.........

Insult to injury

After spending all week busily sorting out all the stuff I've got to do for Erotica, I managed a quick late night visit to my local pub the other night, and before I'd even walked through the door I was accosted by an acquaintance sitting outside with the smokers. The last time I'd seen him had been in the pub a couple of weeks ago, and I'd told him about the fanny paintings I've been working on, and at that time I hadn't found a venue to exhibit them, so had been discussing the options for that with him. Since every thing's moving incredibly fast at the moment, I'd forgotten he didn't know I've arranged to exhibit at Erotica in a couple of weeks. His opening comment to me was "Have you got a print of one of those fanny paintings, I really want one on my wall!" I stopped and had a chat with him, to ascertain which fanny he was referring to, when one of the girls sitting in the group he was with, started listening to the conversation and was obviously very interested in what I was talking about...... I didn't know her but we started chatting, and it turned out she was 19 years old, and most interested to know more about the subject. I sat and chatted with her (and hadn't even got my drink by then!) and explained about the fannies being the most delicious of private jokes, about them being a celebration of womanhood, about them being special for women, and that women really relate to them. Whilst we were chatting, there were a few ribald comments, as I would have expected, but one of the girls there was laughing about what we were talking about - and was coming out with various slang for the subject matter - one of which was "axe cut" - I've never heard that one before, and can't say I was enamoured with it. I wondered why the girl in question (who I know, and like) used the phrase - was she being amusing, or just drunken, or did she use the slang to cover her dislike about that part of her body? It made me wonder......... But her friend, was certainly interested in what I had to say about the fannies, and loved the idea, and took my business card so she could look at my website for herself....... And then I realised I hadn't answered the guy about whether I had prints of the fannies, I'll have to tell him next time I see him, and ask him more about the comment he made about his mother really liking them ..........

By then I was REALLY ready for a drink! So, to the bar, and started chatting with various friends old and new there. My big news is the fact I'd doing Erotica, its taking up so much of my time at the moment, and there was a lot of chat going on about other people who are going to Erotica too, as visitors. I hadn't realised it was so popular!! Various ribald comments again, and I had a chat with a guy I've seen there previously but not spoken to before, he was talking to his mates, and me, about pleasing a woman, and how different women are "down there" - I gather he's had many sexual partners - and listening to him speak, I can understand why men are so fascinated with this subject, and a lot of women keep quiet about it. We're all built differently, and none of us know what each other looks like. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why the Fantasy Fanny paintings are causing so much interest.......

And as an aside - I've been talking to the printers about the advertising leaflets that I'm having printed for Erotica, along with the other stuff I'm doing. We've been discussing fonts and colour schemes and wording for the leaflets. I know that there are some colours to avoid, particularly with erotic art, and some colours that are more beneficial, so I was trying to stick with those, when the printer made the comment about "menstrual red" not being a good colour to use for the fannies. I was amused with his comment, which was meant as helpful, and taken by me as such, I'd never considered that a colour on my artists palette......... And there was me thinking scarlet was a GOOD colour!!!!!! :)

Queyntes 9, 10, 11.....

Well I'm still working frantically getting everything ready for Erotica, there's so much to do for a show - get the display ready, sort out the printers, sort out what I'm selling, and how, write up biographies, sort out price lists, the handouts, the more detailed write ups, contact people who might be interested in going, decide what I'm going to wear! And talking to other people who've exhibited there before and listen to their advice as to what I should be doing, not doing, wearing, not wearing, be aware of, how to deal with people, what sort of people to expect, what interest to expect, and all the other fine tuning that is connected with a show! Phew!!!!!!

And inbetween all that - PAINT!!!!! Because I want the best possible artwork I can take with me to show to everyone..... So, here are the latest Queyntes - numbers 8, 10 and 11. Painted in the same way as the previous ones, but all so very different, and personal, and beautiful in themselves, I think........

A gathering of eroticness

Since I joined the Guild of Erotic Artists in October last year I've not had chance to go to any of their "Event" days but yesterday I was able to change that state of affairs! I've only met a very few of the members briefly at the Erotica show at Olympia in London last November so it was good to go to the Beaumont Hall Studios in Hertfordshire and meet some more of them and compare notes on erotic art and life in general! I know it can be daunting walking through the door of somewhere when you don't know anyone, and have never been there before, but everyone I spoke to had a ready smile, made good eye-contact and made me very welcome. I felt quite at home, helped of course by the fact that there were tasty sausage sandwiches and endless hot cups of tea! I was able to spend time chatting and getting to know people and put faces and names together. I know when I've joined art organisations before, part of the "getting to know you" aspect is also learning who does what sort of art and learning their particular styles and techniques. In some cases I can instantly recognise a painting I've never seen before, just because I recognise the style of the artwork of the artist, as individual as someones handwriting!

Everyone I spoke to was down to earth, helpful and full of good advice on selling, promotion, producing art and techniques for creating art. There were models there as well as artists and photographers and sculptors. A couple of the guys there had some of their artwork in portfolios and I must admit I had a smile to myself when one of them asked me "Would you like to see my etchings?" - normally that's a euphemism for a man trying to seduce a woman, but in this case, he just wanted to show me his erotic etchings and talk about the art! How refreshing!

Most of the time I was there I spent the time chatting to a photographer and found him delightful company! He's been in the guild for a bit longer than me and was more than happy to discuss his photographic art and there were some interesting comparisons to my work, even though he's a photographer and I'm an artist. We had a similar outlook on catching the light in our art and determining what we considered to be "erotic" within art. I know there is no definitive definition of what makes "erotic" but he and I seemed to be in agreement of what we basically agreed it to be...... that frisson of subtle interest that makes you wonder what's going to happen next....MMMmmmmm!! And we also compared notes on who had the easier technique for capturing the "moment" - as far as I'm concerned I think that photographers have a more difficult time as they only have a split second to capture the "instant" of the erotic image, whereas an artist can change whatever they want to make the image more "interesting" by changing the composition, the lighting, the colours, and the focal point. But, interestingly he thought artists had the worse time of it, because then they had to spend hours creating that one image that he could capture in as many "split seconds" as he wanted. Mmm.... an interesting and thought provoking comparison! We also discussed which sex had the easier time of it as a producer of erotic art. I think it must be easier for men than women to work in the business, because as a woman I think it's more difficult and you might be opening yourself up to undesirable attentions from men who might perhaps think that you're offering more than just art. Whereas my photographer friend thought it was a lot easier for women painting erotic art as they wouldn't be viewed as "perverts" whereas maybe an older man photographing younger women would be! Ok, that's got me thinking too! Maybe he's got a point!

Later on I had the opportunity to talk to one of the models there. She's more mature than some of the other models, and it was refreshing to hear her down to earth views on body shape and being comfortable within your own skin rather than worrying over your body shape because it's less than perfect (than the photos that appear in glossy magazines when all the blemishes have been airbrushed out if it anyway!). I think a lot of men prefer women who are comfortable with their bodies and happy within themselves. Although I equally know that doesn't stop women searching for the perfect shape and wanting to improve on what nature has given them!

So, all in all a good, positive and productive day. I'm looking forward to my next visit!

Show time!!

I had a nice day out yesterday. I went to London. Its years since I was last there and good to see the old familiar places - as well as some new ones. St. Pancras in particular is stunning!!! - what a wonderful piece of architecture, full of light and vision, colour and beauty. I loved it!! It was worth the trip just to be there!


And nice to go to London and be around the sort of people I feel right at home with.......... the sort who are happy to be dressed up in a pretty dress, high heels and make-up - and that's just the men! The sort who are happy to be dressed in leather and lace, rubber fetish gear, towering heels, to be lead around on a collar and chain, to be dressed as Victorian ladies in black hobble skirts with feathered fans and tiny pretty top hats adorned in a veil and pushed to a jaunty angle on their head, to be dressed head to foot in dominant masculine black leather, or a tight prettily coloured feminine corset tightly pulled in to reveal the womanly flesh in all its deliciously delightful decadent glory, to be dressed as a dark angel complete with feathered wings, to be dressed in just a bikini and high heels, to be dressed in military uniform, to be dressed or undressed in exactly the way you want to be, with no one batting an eyelid!!! Great stuff!! And the location of this wondrous place? It was Olympia. And the reason? It was the "Erotica 2007" event.

Its been a couple of years since I was last there, and as before, it's a great day out. Playtime and adult fun for free thinking grown ups!! Whatever you're in to - it was there. Whatever you like dressing up in, whatever new toy you want, whatever hedonistic lifestyle you're into, it was there. And also what was there, was one of my main reasons for going - as, as far as I was concerned, it was a work day. I was there to meet my fellow members of the Guild of Erotic Artists who have regularly exhibited there and some of the artist members also have their own stands selling erotic art to the discerning public. So, a good chance for me to meet some new colleagues and say hi to them, introduce myself and make my presence known. And what a friendly welcome I got from all of them, even though I met them all individually - seven members, seven friendly faces, seven conversations about erotic art, marketing and selling art, trade fairs, exhibiting erotic art, trying to make a living as an erotic artist, seven conversations showing interest in each other as artists, and as people. I was told by the majority that its one big happy family, where we support one another, we have the backing of the others to use as a power against other organisations to help us to get better facilities and promotion for our work, we help and assist, and where one person may not know the answer to a question, they will know of someone else who will! What a positive and upbeat reception I got! And feel like I've made some new friends already with them - and am looking forward to meeting them all again when I can next get to see them.

And my purchases for the day? ..................... Well, I found some gorgeous erotic art books, full of life and passion and inspiration for erotic art, and some back copies of "Jade" magazine, full of gorgeous black and white photos of glamorous models in suggestive poses, and I also bought............... well, I'll let you guess what else I bought.....................