What do you see

That last blog post was most interesting! Mostly for what other people see in my artwork that I don't always intend! Now I'm not sure if that's because everyone who reads my blog has an active and fertile furtive imagination (!) or because anyone, however vanilla they are, will always see other things within an image. Or because people who know me, and my art, know that I tend to put erotic images within my artwork, so will actively look for it even when I don't intend it! The last image I showed of the red landscape was taken from a friends photograph. She liked the image because she went to the actual place. I just copied the photograph and didn't add anything to what I saw infront of me except one naked woman lying on the rocks within the foreground, and one flying through the air in the clouds..... and yet.......... everyone who has viewed this painting has seen other images within it, some of them quite graphic! How wonderful is that??!!! I paint erotic landscapes without even knowing it!!!!

Seriously though, I love doing these erotic landscapes and want to do a lot more of them. But first, I need to finish the one I'm currently working on for dj kirkby. Its a really exciting picture and I can't wait to see the finished painting!

Thinking of naked women

Always looking for new ways of doing things I often go on art workshops - sometimes it might be a subject I'm not that interested in but I always come away having learnt some new technique for painting or drawing. The workshop the other day was landscapes in acrylic and I knew it would be helpful whilst I'm contemplating the best way to do the erotic landscape I'm currently working on. And there were quite a few other people there that I knew, so its good to see how they tackle painting a landscape, although they were all thinking hills and trees and I'm thinking of naked women! Because for me, painting a picture, whatever it is, is usually enhanced if I can find a way of incorporating a naked woman in it! And of course, its not helped by the fact that a lot of people I know, also know that's what I do.... so then I get a challenge - "Ok, Jackie, make this one erotic! "And then, of course, that's what I'll do with it, and that's exactly what I did with this one. The picture is ok, nothing special, its just a working piece to try techniques and effects, but at the end of the session I spent a little time playing around and put in some of my typical images......... just to see what I could do....... and you know what? ............. The people who have viewed it so far, have seen erotic images that I didn't intend, and perhaps missed the ones I did! I love it when that happens................

So.................... what do YOU see in it...................?

The latest model

Who'd want to be an artists model? Certainly, there aren't that many people who fancy the job. Not many people are happy taking their clothes off for other people. Especially people who are going to look intently at them. Examine them in minute detail. And then after they've done that they're going to put all the details down on paper infront of them, showing all the parts of your body they you may not be a hundred percent comfortable with. Warts and all ....... so to speak! So, who would want to do THAT for goodness sake???? Well.......... it appears that some people do, and they actually enjoy doing it. And yes, I know that people pose as life drawing models for various reasons - some of them financial - because a life model can earn a reasonable rate of pay for sitting there in the buff, doing nothing in particular but keeping still (and BOY is THAT hard work!!!). But other people do it for far more involved reasons than basic cash. They do it for the love of it - they adore getting their clothes off for someone else and definitely get a frisson of excitement every time they stand before a room full of clothed strangers, knowing that all the eyes in that room are focused on THEM. They are the Star of the Show!!!

But deeper than that, there's another group of people who enjoy the creative process, and want to be part of it, but just don't know how to. They're not artistic, they're not particularly creative, they can't draw to save their lives, but they really really want to do something arty. So, they decide to aide the artist in another way - they become life models. They are the focus of the artistic process - they are the basis of the end product - their body is frozen in time, portrayed upon a canvas, immortalised in paint to live on in perpetuity for the world to see. And whilst you could say that they are being altruistic in some ways, they are also fully aware of their selfish needs in this. Its fulfilling their desire for being the creative focus of someone else.

And then there's the next group - the happy amateurs, who are doing it for a bit of a laugh, a lark, a bit of fun. They just pick it up and do it on the spur of the moment, something else to add to their "done that, bought the tee shirt" scenario, something they can laugh about down the pub with their mates, and tell their grandchildren about when they're old and grey.

And I suppose taking it to a different direction all together, there are those people who get their sexual kicks from the fantasy of being naked with a load of other people, and imagine the hot and frenzied passionate no-holds barred gang-bang orgy that might.......just......... happen .........if certain things go their way, and who probably go home bitterly frustrated and incredibly disappointed when they realise that actually the artist only really did just want to draw them for a couple of hours, and have a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit and talk about their herbaceous border.

But, to go to to another side altogether, there's the sublime relationship between artist and their muse - not just a model, but a person who truely inspires the artist. They have a deep and lasting love affair, not always of a sexual nature, but certainly one of a deep and significant type, where the artist does their best work because of the relationship and feeds from the artistic flow that comes from it. That's the pinnacle of the artist/model relationship. One that we all aspire to - and is so hard to attain. Its a thing of beauty when it happens. Something to be valued because its just so rare and special.

Giving people what they want

Chatting with a male friend the other day, he made the comment that everything I do is sexy. "I wish" I replied and he said that as far as he was concerned, it was the case (and he's certainly known me longer than most people). So perhaps I am, I'd like to think I was (don't we all??) but he went on to say that I was "Psychoerotic" and since I was pretty sure he'd made that word up on the spur of the moment, I questioned what it meant - "Having the ability to plant the erotic in someones mind" he said. Mmmmm..... ok, interesting thought - I certainly like the description, so I'll keep it! So I've been thinking about what he said, and the thoughts appeal to me, that I have an ability to plant the erotic in someones head through my art. That's certainly what I strive to do. I like people, I like the interaction of people, I like to hint at sex, the erotic, the suggestion of pleasure.



But I can see what he means when I look at my latest drawing (done a couple of days before his comments, incidentally). I wanted to do a sexy image of a woman inviting a lover to join her. I particularly liked the idea of just a hint of interesting and intriguing bright red on an otherwise black and white image, it makes the image far sexier! The white high-lighting the skin of the woman's thighs and buttocks, as the rest of her body fades into the black background. She languidly lies back looking at the viewer, her smile an invitation to join her, as she gently raises a leg and pulls off her red panties. I loved doing the drawing, and needless to say it's called "Invitation"!!

So maybe he's right - I am psychoerotic - what do you think?

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!!

Hot and steamy with half naked men

Well.... I suppose you could call it work, since that was the purpose of the meeting... but when Lucy Felthouse and I get together to discuss "work" we end up talking about hunky men, sexually assertive women, threesomes, sexy underwear, erotic stories and erotic art! And what a very pleasant and enjoyable way to spend an evening!! But the really good thing is - we inspire each other, with my erotic images and her erotic words. She's gone off with another batch of my most recent images to use in conjunction with her stories and given me a list of ideas she's got for stories not yet written, the ones still swirling around in her head, most of which seem to involve half naked hunky men, with large biceps, a six-pack, strong jawlines, tight firm buttocks, powerful legs, and one idea in particular that's really inspiring me at the moment ..... of a naked hunky man in the shower, soaping himself down, his back half turned, as the warm water trickles over his sun kissed skin........ sigh...... yep, I think I'll be very happy to paint that picture.......