Pleasing people

Last week when I did my talk for the WI, I wasn't sure of their reaction. I knew they knew I was an erotic artist before I went, and probably expected me to be a brazen hussy of some description (it goes with the territory!). But I went, and I talked to them for an hour or so about being an artist all my life, how I had started life-drawing and how that had evolved into erotic art. I defined erotic art for them. I showed them lots of artwork - landscapes, tigers, fairies, angels and unicorns, tango dancers, as well as numerous erotic drawings. I talked about drawing people, setting up compositions for drawing my models, about painting peoples fantasies of themselves. I told them funny anecdotes of the people I've met and their differing reactions to me as an erotic artist. And I offered to paint any of them who wanted me to and guaranteed confidentiality if they wanted to be painted as scarlet women! They politely clapped at the end, and I chatted with some of them afterwards. But I wasn't sure if it had been a success and I came away wondering how much I might have offended them........

Then this morning - I had an email ......

"Hi Jackie

Sorry for not contacting you sooner.

Your talk to our WI was fabulous.

All of our members were enthralled and fascinated with your erotic drawings and paintings.

A Tribute to your art.

Thank you"

.....Phew! So, they liked it!!!!!! Thank goodness for that! I might be persuaded to do it again then!

And to carry on with an upbeat theme. I've finished the erotic landscape of New York now, and emailed the finished images to the client, so that he could ok it or request any changes he might want, before it was collected. And this morning I got an email from him:

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Well done, I can't wait till the recipient sees it, I believe it will give her great enjoyment, a unique painting for a unique person, and I absolutely love the title!... and many thanks indeed for your extremely hard work."

So..... another happy customer. Great news. So................ I suppose you're going to want to see the painting now aren't you? Well...... here it is, the finished oil painting on a box canvas:

The painting is called "Towering passions" as I wanted in some way to incorporate the lights of where the twin towers once stood, as a hint of the title, and perhaps take away from the erotic couple a bit - a sort of play on words. And here's the detail of the erotic couple so you can see them clearly and how they look. They're nicely hidden in the main picture but clear enough if you know where to look. The fact they're muted has helped to hide them, and putting the lights over them has also helped to disguise them within the image. I've loved doing this painting as I love hiding images within images.

And just to make it a hat trick - I've just had another conversation with someone who has commissioned me to do the second dog portrait for a Christmas present. She showed me the photos of the dog and we discussed mediums, and size and whether I was getting the artwork framed, all the usual questions that I ask when someone commissions me. Originally she had thought she wanted a pencil drawing of the dog, but then mentioned in passing about a favourite painting she has of another pet dog and how much she loves it and would adore this commission done the same way...... but she wasn't sure of the medium it was painted in, but had always wanted to know. So I took a look at it........ and could tell her the answer to her long wondered question....... it was done, very cleverly, in gouache, the background being a pretty, scumbled wet effect and the dog itself painted in fine wet on dry detail with every hair shown and I said I could paint the new commission in the same way if she so wished. Oh yes!!! I'd made her day with that offer! So, I'm happy to help and glad I can be of service ....... and pleased that sometimes I can help make dreams come true.......

Rising prices

I went out for dinner to a friends house the other night. Its a house I go to regularly and always get pleasure from seeing the artwork on the walls there..... partly because one of the drawings is mine, and hangs prominently on the wall there. Its not an erotic one, just a vanilla one. And there was also another painting there, in the same room, done by an artist I've known for some years now and see occasionally. Its a lovely painting of his, with beautiful ethereal blues and hazy purples and I always take pleasure in seeing it again. And by coincidence I had been in his company the day before. He's a nice guy and we always have a how-are-you-what-are-you-doing-at-the-moment? type of chat. I had mentioned to him that I've finally found my niche in the artistic market, since I had last seen him, and was painting erotic artwork nowadays. He did the usual man thing of wanting to know my website address so he could view it!! Women generally go quiet and men generally ask for my website when I tell them I'm an erotic artist!! He also gave me a piece of very useful advice - about raising the prices considerably on my artwork - he said not to be scared of putting a high price on my artwork. He knows, as well as I do, that a higher price may put some people off and lose a sale, BUT it can also attract a different type of buyer. Someone who is looking for an investment, and knows the price will increase in value over time, as an artists profile is raised and the artist becomes more of a commodity. And later on, whilst eating dinner with my friends, who had no knowledge of this conversation I'd had with my artist friend, they jokingly made reference to them helping me to raise my profile, because they know that the picture they have on their wall will increase in value. Certainly, the price I charged them for it all those years ago when I did it, would certainly have a lot different price on it now if I did it. They know they have an investment already. That's good to know, that that's how they view it.

And on to what I'm painting this week - I've almost finished the first erotic landscape of New York and am delighted with how its going. It's been a slow process because it's been painted in oils, and I have to keep waiting for various areas to dry before I can do the next bit. I started off with an acrylic under-painting, then built up the colours of the sky, and the river before starting the detail of the skyscrapers. I realised soon after that that the sky needed to be darkened to make the skyscrapers stand out more, so I did that, and then put in the mid-tone underlighting of the buildings ready for the actual "lights" to be painted on top of. Then I was ready to put in the detail of the erotic couple, I knew that I would spend a lot of time getting them to look right, but they also needed to be subtly hidden within the buildings too. It was clear that the area they reside in had to be dulled down in colour and tone, so that the viewers eye wouldn't go immediately to it - so that's what I did. And ...... then........ the BIG and MOST important part of the painting - putting on the lights of New York! - they all had to go on in one painting session, so that they would look uniform in shape and colour and style. Deep breath....... and on with it............ and at the end the whole thing had that "WOW" factor - suddenly, the whole thing has come alive, and at the same time, the judicious use of lighting has simultaneously, hidden the erotic couple too!!!! Yay!!!! I'm really happy with it, and have almost finished it - just have to wait for this part to dry before I put the highlights on the water, and then spend time just looking at it and correcting any glaring imperfections, and it'll be done. Just got to think of a title now.......... I've got a few ideas already, I'm just mulling them over to see what feels right.......

Work in progress

I'm making progress with my two erotic landscape paintings, after what seems an interminable age of nothing happening (to me, at least!). I now have a clearer idea of what dj kirkby wants for her erotic landscape, and separate to that I have now had the initial sketch ok'd of the other painting of the New York skyline so I'm ready to start painting it. And itching to get going on it!! The image has strong horizontal lines, broken up with strong vertical lines within the centre third of the painting. The viewers eye sees these strong geometric lines and is happy. But, hidden within the painting are the more rounded shapes of two lovers, she on top of him, he prone below her. It will be obvious, when you see them, as to what they are doing, and yet, it will take the eye a while to see them, as they will be painted in a subtle way, using the same colours as the buildings they are superimposed over. And whilst the contrast of the buildings will be stronger than the contrast in the couple, they will be hidden. This sketch is only a simple version, the finished painting will be brighter, with more depth of colour and contrasts in it. But it takes a while to find the couple, even so.

There's so much to do when starting a new painting - there's the initial idea, the thought process of how to convey that idea on paper, the thumbnail sketches to complete the thought process, choosing the right medium - whether watercolours will be better for their fluidity and movement, or whether oils or acylics would be better for the brighter and stronger colours and the ability to overpaint. Then the layout of the image on paper, making any final adjustments to that. THEN the actual applying of paint can start! (this is why I say that to produce a painting, nine tenths of it is the thinking part, and only a tenth is the actual painting, no matter how difficult it is to paint). And whilst I'm painting, I'm still thinking, still trying to work out if things could be better improved with the addition of something, or the deletion of something else, whether to change the colours, or add a dash of interest somewhere else. And I know when its actually finished when I look and look at my painting and can find absolutely nothing to improve upon. Then its done!

I was talking to an artist friend over the weekend, who I have not seen for a few months, and she was asking what projects I'm currently working on - so I told her about the two "erotic landscapes" and went into detail about how I was going to do them, and what was involved. She knows the two paintings are going to be a challenge to do, and made the comment that as an artist you're selling part of your soul. And I know what she means - we are producing part of what makes us artists, the creativity that is so deeply ingrained within us, that we have this need to create and produce artwork, and we advertise it for the world to see. Its like showing part of your inner self. And she asked me, where do you begin to put a price on that...................?

Making landscapes erotic

I've been busy this week with many things on various levels, but I've also been in separate discussions with two unconnected people who want totally different versions of the same thing! They both want me to do a painting for them, in oils, on a box canvas, and they both want an erotic landscape. Great fun! Just my sort of subject and very exciting to do! But they want different versions for their paintings - the first is of a city scape - like Boston or New York, the typical picture we all know so well of a horizontal landscape, split into three - clear sky, buildings on the land, water in the foreground. But hidden somewhere within that picture, I have to introduce an erotic couple. To me, there is only ONE place they can go, because the whole point of this painting is the hidden part of it - so the couple can't be in the sky, or the water, they have to be hidden within the buildings themselves. This will be a bit difficult, as the couple will need to be horizontal, whilst skyscrapers, by definition, are vertical! I had considered putting the couple in one or two of the skyscrapers but I think they might look "trapped" there, and not as well hidden as if they were horizontal. The painting will probably be at twilight/dawn so there will be colour in the sky and water but the buildings will be dark except for lit windows, which will make the painting very dramatic and interesting even before I add the couple. MMmmm..... interesting idea for a painting, and I shall enjoy very much doing it. I know exactly how I shall do it, once I've found a suitable erotic couple for the focal point.

The second painting is also of an erotic landscape, but totally different to the one described above. This one will require more thought, as the couple will BE the landscape, and the landscape will be them. At first glance, this painting will be a rural landscape,with trees and grass, plants and shrubs. To innocent eyes it will be a nice and pleasant landscape, it will only be on further investigation that it will become clear that there is a couple entwined within the picture, hidden somehow between the hills and hollows, valleys and peaks....... I think..... or maybe I won't do it that way, maybe the couple will be trees entwined around each other, their limbs merging and becoming one........... or perhaps the couple will be outcrops of rocks and craggy mountains. There's a lot of thought I need to do for this painting. It also will have water in the foreground, and maybe a mystical feel to it.

So....... that's what I'm doing this weekend...... thinking around the eroticness of a landscape..... and hopefully producing some drawings to show how each painting will look, so other people have an idea of what I'm considering before I sit down and start painting properly. They will both be subtle and clever, both with a secret, both fun to do, and I hope, fun to look at!!