Four hundred and blustery

Four hundred.

Four hundred with this one.

Blog posts that is, that I've written since I started in March 2007. Its almost the anniversary of that coming up soon too, and I still love it as much now as I did then. Perhaps more so, because more people comment on it in real life.

So, what am I going to talk about today?

Wind.

I was at an art meeting last night for one of the art groups I'm a member of. And we'd discussed various things to do with forthcoming exhibitions, finding new venues, new members wanting to join, the usual stuff of artist groups. And we'd got to the point towards the end of the meeting when other people were discussing subjects that didn't really relate to anything that I needed to put any input into, and my mind wandered off.......as it does to us all when we have free moments.....

The woman opposite me, who is someone who is used to me smiling at her and making funny comments, looked over at me, and commented on how serious I looked, and I said quietly "I'm thinking".......

I didn't have chance to tell her later on what I was thinking of, though.
And she'd have probably thought it very odd if I had!

It was wind.

Not wind as in the embarrassing trapped body sort of wind, wind as it weather.
And more to the point, how I was going to capture it within the painting I'm working on at the moment.

Because part of the brief for the landscape painting is that it is Autumn, and there are leaves blowing, and that there is wind.

Which is fine, because that's easy enough, to paint blowing leaves to emulate wind. But, it's far more than that, because this painting is abstract. So, that makes it more difficult to depict. Because I need to show the wind, within the paint. But, last night, whilst thinking, I think I may have found a way of doing it! A way that makes me happy that I've got it right, and that it will work as a concept.

And it involves black paint, and also silver paint.

And just to excite me even more, the art supplies that I ordered last weekend arrived this morning with a friendly van driver. He brought me a large canvas to work on, and some paint...various colours of oil paint....... some of it............ in silver!

Twiddling our thumbs and other bits

We dragged ourselves from our sick beds out into the cold winters night, drove through the dark on fog bound roads, around road blocks and detours, to arrive, a little frosted, at our destination. A warm and welcome greeting for all who had braved the winter chills to turn up at the meeting as we compared winter ailments, coughs and colds. The first one of the year for this artists group, and it turned out to be all women for once. It was good to see my arty friends again, and I knew the meeting wasn't going to be an overly long one as there wasn't a lot on the agenda. We settled ourselves in the meeting room, as we waited for our punctilious Chairman to arrive. He's usually the first there, with his cheery smile and easy manner. The waiting lengthened, as we wondered where he was, perhaps delayed with the road blocks on country lanes, or perhaps with the fog on high ground, either way, he'd be here soon.

He wasn't.

So, the ever efficient secretary decided that it might be prudent to start the meeting without him, and he could take over when he arrived. Which was bound to be shortly.We went down the points on the agenda, as fully as we were able, but after the great length of time of........ooooh............ twenty minutes, we'd done it all! Mmm.... so where's the Chairman then? Is he stuck in a ditch? Has there been an accident? Is he lost in the fog? Perhaps someone has been rushed to hospital? A quiet unease spread slowly through the room ...........

Then, someone said that it might be a good idea to ring his mobile, great idea, but no one had the number.  I suggested we rang his home phone, as I had that to hand, and perhaps his wife would know where he was and what was happening. The secretary used her mobile to ring, as the rest of us watched with slightly concerned eyes, mouths closed tight, in deathly silence.
Ring. Ring. Hello?

He answered!

Slight relief from the room as we realised he was ok, but what was wrong, why was he still at home? It turned out that he was still at home becuase as far as HE was concerned, the meeting was on Thursday! AH! ER.. no, it isn't! :) Amusement from the assembled group as relief set in that he was ok and had only got the wrong date for the meeting. What business that could be was conducted over the phone, whilst our illustrious Chairman got an ear bashing from his wife in the room with him, and also the piss taken out of him from the secretary on the phone at the same time for getting the date wrong! :)

So, that was the meeting, not a lot to discuss, but as we left the meeting room, we had to walk through a bar room, semi-full of men with warm pints of the local bitter in their hands. They're a jolly group, mostly ex-miners, and I knew a couple of them, and stopped as they obviously wanted to chat - the first to comment on the fact that he'd been tempted to come in and pose as he knew I draw naked men and "their twiddly bits"!!! Guffaws of laughter from me regarding his description!! And the second commented that I ought to draw a retired miner mate of his since he had more that I might be interested in - I realised he was referring to them all being in the showers after a shift down t'pit and obviously comparing sizes (of  twiddles) whilst rinsing the black coal dust off themselves. All very jolly, and amusing, mostly because I hadn't been drawing in the meeting room at all , but having a meeting in the meeting room, now with added visions of naked ex-miners rampaging into the room in the mistaken belief that we women in there wanted to draw them and their "twiddly bits"!!!!! Now, THAT would have lightened the proceedings more !!!!!! LOL (even more so that I'm the only one there who draws naked people, the rest draw landscapes, cats, flowers, and still life!!!!!!!!). Tee Hee

Even when you're bunged up, things flow

I've realised its been a while since I last did a blog post. And its been at the back of my mind for the last couple of days to do one. I hadn't realised that it has been a week since I last wrote. And in that week I've had a cold. I wouldn't normally mention it, as I've had colds before and they are usually an annoyance rather than anything else. A cold is a cold......your nose is full of snot and your head doesn't work properly.

But when I think back over this week, and remember that I kept thinking I've got "nothing to write about", I remember that I've been working hard on the "living flame" erotic couple painting which is almost finished, I've attended a meeting for one of the art groups I'm in, looking at the years exhibitions and poor sales (due to the recession) and have looked at ways to find exciting new venues, and have other artists on the waiting list wanting to join the group and hopefully will benefit from any future associations with them. I've had some lovely chats with some of my artist friends, and have benefited hugely from a couple in particular, I have exhibited at two local exhibitions, one a weekend one, and the other a month one, and although I didn't sell anything other than a small print - IT IS A SALE, and proof that someone likes my art enough to want it hanging on their wall. Ok, I may not be feeding on caviar for the next month from the sale, but it is a positive step forward and one that I appreciate and am grateful for.

And I have also been on a shopping spree. One that I thoroughly enjoyed. One where I bought some exciting blank canvas's (when I think of the wonderful paintings I'm going to paint on them!), some mounts, and a large amount of industrial velcro......................

...........................now, why would she want velcro, and not just that, but INDUSTRIAL velcro, in large quantities...........?

HMMmmmmm..............................

Well..................I'll let you ponder that one for a while, and maybe I'll tell you, if you can't guess.

And I shall be very very interested to know if you can................ :)

Life, love and art

I went to meeting for one of the art groups I'm in, last night. It was good to see everyone again, the usual start of chit-chat and pleasantries, then on to the meeting, not very exciting stuff, but it needs to be discussed with the group. Items talked over, decisions made, the usual stuff of meetings. Then afterwards, the usual dash for the door for some and the leisurely lean back and the comment of "Do you want a drink?" as the rest head for the bar.

Then the proper chat starts - the "What have you been doing recentlys?" as we catch up with news and gossip. I was sitting next to a guy who is a big friend of Stuart - the chap I drew two life portraits of in December, and funnily enough I'd had lunch with Stuart and his wife earlier on that day, and Stuart had kindly sent a very useful and interesting book about local interest, to me via our mutual friend. So we had a chat about what a nice chap Stuart is, and about the experience of my drawing him, and how odd Stuart had found the thought of it , but felt very comfortable in my company very soon after my starting to draw him. Then we moved on to other topics. And usually it gets around to my erotic art - since no one else in this group does erotic art, and I suppose some of my stories are a little more colourful and interesting than the usual art stories! So I quickly got them laughing with a couple of saucy arty anecdotes, and then started chatting with the younger woman next to me.

I've known her for many years as an artist, but am only just starting to know her as a friend. Her fella came to join the social group later on, and he's someone I've known for a number of years too through another connection, so it was easy chat between us..... and as the evening wore on, we chatted and chatted, and were the only three left at the end, and we easily conversed on many varied subjects from vegetarianism (they are, I'm not), to erotic art, getting paid by clients, producing art, making people happy, celebrity and all the problems it brings, painting nature, working as an artist, relationships, finding yourself as an artist and I suppose mostly about life and love and art. And what totally wonderful subjects to discuss! I have felt for a long time that my art is "spiritual" (especially after having many long and deep conversations with my spiritual healer friend) - I don't mean religious, I mean spiritual - in the way that it is therapeutic to the buyer, brings them happiness and it feeds the soul. I suppose you could argue the fact that all art is like that - but I seem to be able to paint pictures that people can empathise with, probably because of the erotic/sensual subject matter. It was good to explain how much I've changed this last year as I've focused on my art more, and the pleasure I get from painting. She said she could see how much I had changed within myself as a person and becoming more creative as an artist. And I was touched that she had seen that. We talked about our personal circumstances, and the way we created art from within ourselves, the creative spirit and how hugely important it is within us and forms the whole basis of our lives. It was good to bond with my artist friend, and hear her views on life - because her personal circumstances have changed hugely within the last year, but I can see that she too, is more relaxed within herself, and with the way she communicates with her art with the people she works with.

Time to go, and not because we had finished conversing on this subject but because the bar was closing, so we walked together into the dark night, and said goodnight, but after a couple of steps she came back to me, hugged me and said "I'm SO proud of you, Jackie!" and I hugged her back and said I was proud of her too, and was so touched with her words.