A change for the better

Right, I can tell you more about the erotic abstract now.....

I was happy that I had finished it the first time, but the woman who I had done it for found it confusing in parts, and I realised over subsequent conversations with her that I had probably made it overly complicated in trying to hide the image. Her kids had seen it and had only seen colourful shapes, pointing out the fish, witch, birds wing and other outlines and missing the main picture, because it was only shapes. As it turned out, the adults I'd created it for seemed to have the same problem!!!! 

Mmm.... rethink!

I'd already said that it was no problem to change the colours and shapes to make it more obvious. I stood infront of it with the woman who it was created for and asked her what she could see. She told me, and although there were three people in the picture she could only see half of one of them in effect...  Ok, then I need to do some more work on it.

The next day I started tweaking it, and spent another four hours adjusting various parts to make it more readable. And showed the woman again. She looked at it, and her first response was that I hadn't made any changes, and then she looked a little further, and again, seeing the nuances of it,  and stood with a grin and said "I can see it now!". Phew, that was a relief! I smiled, and looked back at it, as she did, and I was pleased that she can now look at it and see the eroticism of the image. Although, innocent eyes will still only see innocence.......

And just to add to the rest of the story, she texted me this morning to thank me for the extra work I had done on it, and to say that she had read my blog from the other day when I wrote about making the changes, and NOW she could see the erotic shapes as I had planned in the ORIGINAL image. I laughed in disbelief, and she went on to say, that now that I had made the changes to the painting it had trained her eyes more, so that she could see the first image far clearer. I can understand that. And I am hugely relieved that she doesn't want me to continue painting to return it back to how it was! She understands, as I do, that the second version has taught her how to read it clearer!

So, on to explaining more about it, and to show you the finished version. The definitive version! Which, I know is still abstract and still "just shapes" - but if you look at the original working drawing, you will see instantly what the image is, and why it is erotic. There are three people in the picture, two women, and one man. The women are lying on top of the man, which is why you can't see him clearer. His hand is clear on the right hand side, as it rests on the back of the woman on the right. His other arm is actually the strange shape behind the woman on the left, his hand is caressing her neck, although the arm is only visible to the wrist. His head and neck are behind the arm of the woman on the left in the top centre of the picture, his legs are visible - one between the legs of the two women, and the other under the woman on the rights thigh. His cock is the strange shape in the middle of the picture, above the thigh of the woman on the right. His stomach is above, between the knees of the woman on the left, and the breast and stomach of the woman on the right.  As you have probably realised by now, the two women are caressing, but only using one hand each, on the arm of the other woman. I realised when I started working on the design that if I had heads, hands, and feet within the picture it would be pretty obvious what it was, and what was happening. So, I cropped the image, and that made the image more abstract straight away. Merging some shapes, and disguising the obvious shapes by adding extra distinctive ones, led the eye away from the image a little more. Having a limited colour scheme helped, and adding red and silver and black made the image more dramatic, and gave the viewers brain something to look at and question.

There are actually a lot of the original lines from the working drawing used in the finished painting. You have to look closely to see where they are, and as I said, I have purposely tried to hide them anyway.




So, that's it then. Done! And hopefully no more changes....... its erotic enough, and hidden enough as it is.

Unexpected changes

I really enjoyed chatting to the journalist from the Burton Mail the other day. I was pleased he'd given me 20 hours to mull over the questions, because that meant I could give him some indepth answers. But then his questions were very deeply personal ones as well.

It was a real fun thing to do, and we went through the answers over the phone. But I had to give him a pre-warning before we'd even started........

Some of the answers had been changed, to ones that were more a little more, well, suitable for a family newspaper.   Ok, he said with a laugh.... and we started with the questions....

Where and when I was born, hobbies, favourite food (which he was surprised about since my choice wasn't a typical one), favourite book (again a surprise for him since he'd never heard of it) and favourite film (I did really well and narrowed it down to four from about twenty! Since I've never had the just one answer!). Proudest moment, biggest inspiration, biggest love, favourite belonging, most embarrassing moment, hopes for the future, what I'd like to have written on my epitaph, but it was when we got to biggest and best achievement that we had the biggest problem. Because I was emphatic on my answer, and knew that he would struggle to put it in the paper. When I explained, he said that he himself was ok about it, but the paper wouldn't be. Ok, then, how do we phrase it so that they are happy with it, because this is definitely my answer. Ok......  I told him how I would word it, and asked him which part he wasn't happy about, and it was the one word I was expecting, the rest was ok. So, we had to write it so that I got the point across without spelling it all out in exact wording to make the vicar blush! 

At the end of the session, he had a word count and was surprised that it was 600 odd, and that left him with a problem since it had to be 420. Ok, a bit of editing needed to be done then! Between us we went through what he had written, and he apologised for the fact we had to cut my words down, and he said that normally people don't put enough words in and it needs padding out. I said I could have easily doubled it, and had struggled in the first place to cut it down to make it more succinct! We worked on the phrasing, and between us got it down to 420 words. I said to him that he was the expert wordsmith and should know how to do it naturally, but as I worked through it he said I did it easily, and I grinned over the phone and said I wrote a blog post two or three days a week so was used to it!

I enjoyed chatting to him very much, and have a feeling we'll chat again.


Oh, and the thing that I feel is my biggest and best achievement, and the thing we had problems with? Well, it was the Fantasy Fannies, of course! LOL
I think we rephrased it to something like "feminine abstracts" which sort of hinted at it, without it being a problem for the paper!!!!

And whilst I'm on unexpected changes, I have offered to make a few subtle changes to the erotic abstract that I finished the other week, since the woman I did it for finds it a little perplexing still. Now, don't get me wrong, she knows exactly what is in the picture, and why, but she can only see parts of the image. It seems like I've made it overly complicated! We had discussed it a number of times, and I wanted her to look at it and be happy with it, not frustrated and confused, so I offered to make it a little more obvious, and she gratefully accepted. I shall do them infront of her and explain the changes first so that she can see what I'm going to do. Her children can't see anything in it but blobs and erratic shapes, so adding a few more blobs shouldn't make it less so, but it might make it a little more obviously erotic.......

I'll show you when I've done it, and explain a little about it for you.................

Competition - spot the naughtiness!

Right then, here it is - the erotic abstract I've been working on, unveiled at last.

It looks like an abstract. That's because it IS an abstract. Tee hee....
But, it is an erotic abstract. So that means that there's more to look at. Far more.
I have purposefully hidden the erotic aspect so that those who don't know, will only look at it and see brightly coloured shapes. But there are still a lot of the original lines and shapes within the picture that are showing the true image. I think I've made a good job of hiding the image, but I'd like to put it to the test. So, I will have a little bet with you, a little wager, to see if I am right.

All you have to do is answer these 10 little questions here:

1. How many people are in the picture?
2. How many men are in the picture?
3. How many women are in the picture?
4. How many hands are in the picture?
5. How many breasts are in the picture?
6. How many fannies are in the picture?
7. How many cocks are in the picture?
8. How many bums are in the picture?
9. What is the red shape at the top left hand side?
10. What is the red shape directly in the middle of the picture?

The prize is one of my paintings. It's this one here - and is entitled "Kiss" - It's 15 x 11 inches on block canvas and it is valued at £320. Everyone I know who's seen it loves this painting, as it's fun and sexy, but you can hang it on your wall and its acceptably erotic so even your granny wouldn't be upset by it! And it will go to the first person who can correctly answer the above questions, either by an email directly to me at jackieadshead@btinternet.com or as a blog comment below. The competition deadline is midnight Sunday 6th February 2011. So, you've got a few days to study it.......

And just to get you started off, because I'm kind, one of the answers is given in a previous blog post earlier this year........

Searching for secrets

After yet another forced delay, I've got back to the painting I've been working on for a couple of weeks now.

The erotic abstract that looks just like an abstract, unless you know where to look.

I've taken the original full image and drawn it out as a simple line drawing and it's obvious what it is.

I've taken that drawing and hidden the lines of the form within the tones of light and dark, and its less obvious as it what it is.

I've taken that image and drawn it as a black and white image, colouring in the shapes with greys,and its far less obvious again, as it what it is.

I've taken that image and done a couple of small paintings with full colour in the design and I think the image is hidden enough.

Its so hidden that even I am having difficulty working out some of it! LOL

So, I think I might have a little wager with you, when its done. To see what you can see in it.............

Windows on the world

There I was, quietly working away, when...

The phone rang.......
I answered it (as you do....)

"Hello, can I speak to Mrs G"
"She doesn't live here any more"
"Oh. (pause) Are you the new home owner?"
Cautiously I replied with a "Yes", waiting for the loaded next question....
"In that case, do you know that your windows need replacing?" she chirpily asked.
"Do they? Why is that then?" I asked her.

"Because they're ten years old!"

"Are they indeed?" I replied with a smile "How are you aware of that?"

She paused, obviously reading something in my amused tone.

"Have you replaced them recently?" she asked me suspiciously.

"No, I haven't" I replied crisply, with an inward smile.

"In that case they need replacing, because they're ten years old!"

"Mmm..... that's interesting that you think that ,as the house is actually only EIGHT years old..................................."

I came away from the phone with a smile. And then a thought. Maybe I ought to check with Mrs G who I bought the house from in December, who bought it from brand new, to see if the windows ARE infact ten years old. Perhaps they stood alone and freely on the building site for two years before the house was actually built..................

I went back to the job I was doing. Working on the erotic abstract which was coming along nicely. I'd started with an image that was definitely erotic, and drawn it out as a line drawing, which just simplified the basic shapes. But, it was still erotic, and quite obvious to anyone as to what it was. And then came the fun bit. To take that basic image and disguise the shapes and lines. To do that, I looked at where the image had light and dark areas that merged together, forgetting the lines of the bodies, and just looking at the shapes and how they appear together, and marrying them together, making them less obvious. That already makes the image far more abstract. But the next stage will be to take each of those shapes and change the tones for contrasting ones, as that will disguise the shapes even more so. So where there is light, I will make it darker, and where it is dark or medium tones, I will lighten them. I'm hoping that at the end of it, even I will have problems seeing what is where. Then it will truly be abstract.

But, not to the point where you can't see what is what, if you know where to look.... and how to look at it........ its just tricking the eyes, and then teaching them how to look in a different way......

Awaken within

Today was going to be reasonably quiet, with me working on the new painting later on - probably about sixish. But, as is sometimes the case, things didn't go quite to plan........

It turned out that I had to make a journey today I wasn't expecting, a car journey to deepest darkest Essex. Well, actually that's not correct, its a very pretty part of rural Essex even in the middle of bleak winter. But the journey had to be made, to help another out, to collect something that isn't mine, from someone who wasn't there (are you following this?). So, although the journey took over two and a half hours, I was only at the venue less than five minutes, and then headed straight back again, with a short stop on the way down, and way back, for a coffee and loo break. So, seven hours more or less, of travelling, and not doing what I had planned to do, today.

But, it meant I could do one thing. One very important thing.

I could think.

And I like thinking, especially when its about an exciting new painting I want to do......

By the time, I'd finished off the other chores for the day, its gone 9pm. Well past 9pm. But, that doesn't matter either, because when I'm fired up, time disappears, and I'll happily stay up til well past midnight getting on with the art and working on a painting.

I'm still in the design process though at the moment. The part when I put some inspiring music on, and get a pencil out, and some pieces of paper, and start playing with shapes, and lines, and tones.

But, when I start work on it, I can feel the excitement build in me. The way it catches my breath as I realise that the lines are flowing. Particularly when its an erotic abstract, one depicting more than one person.....



This is going to be a good one......