Tickled pink

I'm fully aware of the reason why the last picture I put on my blog wasn't brilliant. It was because my mind was elsewhere........ lost in visions of naked women doing feminine things. I wasn't fully focused on the guy I drew last week because I've spent so much time recently thinking about the artwork of women I want to produce for the gallery I visited three weeks ago. Then whilst I was on holiday in the Lake District I was thinking about it, and in days after I got back I was thinking about it even more, and last week I was collating the information and just about ready to start drawing them. Then I received an email from the gallery owner asking how I was getting on and wanting me to email the first image to him. I was going to reply by email and then thought, no, I'll ring him. I needed to explain it to him and an email wasn't the mode of doing it........


.......These images are going to be part of a "set" so that when they are viewed together they can be seen as a collective. But any of the images can be a picture on its own. Of course if someone wants to buy one of the pictures they will have a nice image all on its own but ideally they will have the chance to "pick and mix" the images so they can buy two, three, four, more and all the images will interconnect. That's the plan. And that's what I've been thinking of the last three weeks. Nothing else, well .......artwise, anyway!!! And that is what I needed to explain to the gallery owner. That although I had done one of the images, I didn't want to show him just the first one. I wanted to show him the finished set. Because although I'd completed one, and was delighted with it, by the time I'd finished the whole set, the first one may not fit in it so well (although I doubt that that will be the case). He understood when I explained it, and said there was no pressure, and I was happy to hear that, because pressure whilst a bit of is a good thing, a LOT of it can take away from the creative process if a dead-line is looming!!!


So, here's the first one and I'm delighted with it. Its simple but effective, has colour and enough feminine charms to be interesting. Her breasts are framed by the boa and she's in a contemplative mood. The look on the girls face is good, with the hint of a smile and the pose is interesting with enough lights and darks and angles. The feathers are soft and have enough depth of colour and form. And I'm even delighted with the title too! Its called "Tickled pink" which fits in with the boa image as well as the colours used.


So, now on to the next one.................MMmm......... Oh, yes, I know what I'm going to do!!! :)



And as a post script, I was delighted last week to be asked to write up the Guild of Erotic Artists Event day report for July, and the Guild secretary only asked me because I'd mentioned that I write a blog and he was featured in it! I enjoy writing, and find as much satisfaction in it as painting almost. I suppose its all part of the creative spirit.

Sex on legs

The minute I saw the photo of Cherrie half-naked, draped in her pink and purple feather boa and fishnets, I knew I wanted to draw it. Such a sexy image, I found it very inspirational for an erotic artist - I just hadn't envisioned how difficult I would find it to do! I started off full of artistic momentum, secure within myself of my own talent, capabilities and abilities, and decided to do the picture as a watercolour painting with a bit of drawing perhaps for the detail. So that's what I did. .......And ....came up against a mental brick wall!! How can the picture look so stilted? How come there's no life to it? Mmmmmmm.... do it again, perhaps as a pastel on black paper, hence I'd get instant colour and the fact it would be on black would make the image more vibrant and colourful and sexy. So that's what I did for my second attempt. And.......... that was wrong too!!! How can it be ? Mmmmmm..... more thinking..... and a couple of days later tried it again using the inktense pencils that I love, instant colour, instant washes, tiny details where needed, and big colour washes elsewhere. Third time lucky, surely? Nope, that didn't work either! What on earth was I missing??? Think. Think......... Racking my brains! Then it dawned on me! What I was trying to do was copy the photo of Cherrie, and whilst it was a clear photo with enough detail, and showed me exactly what I needed to see to produce a painting, what it was capturing was a MOMENT in time. A split second, freezing Cherrie in her movements, into ONE set image. And that wasn't at all what the thing was about. Not for me. It was about her dancing, her movements, her sexuality, her provocative hip movements, her smile, the way she dipped her head, the way she moved her hands sensuously up her body, the way the boa twitched and writhed, and blurred into movement as it was twirled around her body. That was what I wanted to paint - the whole build-up to that very moment, when the camera caught the image. So, I started again, and that was what I painted! And here it is - in watercolour, with the paint splattered on, to show her dancing, grooving, gyrating, provoking and showing her innate sexuality, her appeal and allure, her desirability and sensuality. Hiding her face under a hat, thrusting her hips out, revelling in the sensation of fishnet hold-ups and her sexy high heels, the feather boa a lovely accompaniment to her erotic dance, hiding her skin, flashing part of her left breast and a nipple. Dancing to her sexual beat. Sooo.............. How did I do?

Black feathers

Whilst thinking of ideas for ways of doing the sexy picture of Cherrie cavorting in her boa I thought it would make a nicely erotic picture to draw a woman wearing a black feather boa, on a black background, but only capturing the white of her skin through the feathers. I also wanted the solid female flesh as a nice contrast for the softness of the feathers, just picking out the profile of her breast, the curve of her back falling down to her buttocks, a hint of thigh, her arm bent to add to the tightness of the composition. So having done it, I think it works well enough as an image. I love doing these white on black drawings, just picking out the details of light against the pure black of the paper. Not every part of her body needs to be drawn or every feather in the boa for the viewer to understand the picture. Good job - it would be a nightmare to depict every feather in a boa! The picture is called "froth of feathers" although I think the model would call it "spitting feathers" as she said wearing it, was like being attacked by a hundred chickens!!