Tucked away on page 10

I had a bit of a clue in the week that I would be featured in the paper, from the journalist who wrote the article, but wasn't sure which day it would actually be.  But fortunately others saw it, before I had had chance to find out, and kept a copy behind for me, so thanks for that if you're reading this!

So there I was, tucked away - well not that tucked really, it was at the top of the page under the "News in brief" column in the Burton Mail on Tuesday this week (the ninth, if you want to be exact) that the article appeared telling its readership about the watercolour commission I've just done of the Old Bothy at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. (And just whilst I think about it, its quite interesting to note that Burton Mail is based in Staffordshire, Calke Abbey is based in Derbyshire, and I am based in Leicestershire! but none are actually that far away from each other!).

Anyway, the article, if you can read it here, (click on it to expand it) explained about the watercolour painting I'd done recently and described how I loved all the textures in it and how detailed the painting was to capture all that was featured in it.

I rang Stuart to tell him that the article about the painting I did for him was in the paper, and he "matched me" by saying he was having something printed in the paper next week too! He often write articles about local history so its normal in his life to have his name featured in the paper, still he was pleased to hear it, and glad I'd told him about it. 

And its certainly put a big grin on my face too!!!  

International Womens Day article in the paper

Nice to see your name in the paper - this was the article in the Burton Mail last week:

BURTON Library is to celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day with songs, drama, craft and speeches.

Centred on the theme ‘Women in the Arts’, the events will be held at the centre on Tuesday, March 8.

Nottingham singer and actress Mellonie Page will start the celebrations by running a singing and drama workshop from 9am until noon.


Burton author and illustrator Kate Slater will then hold a similar event focussed on paper crafts and collage from 1pm to 3pm.
Tickets for the workshops are £3 each and advanced booking is advised as places are limited.

Mariama Tushermiriiwe, a Derby-based designer who trained at the London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins College, will be among the guest speakers during the evening.

She creates hand-crafted items from reused, recycled fabrics and fibres and her work is available to buy online and countrywide.

Another performer will be Jackie Adshead, an artist who works with acrylics, oils and watercolours.

She has been acclaimed for her work as an erotic artist and is a member of the Guild of Erotic Artists.

Her work has been exhibited at the library as a solo artist and sold worldwide.


Ms Adshead, who lives near Ashby, said: “I’m very proud to be asked to take part because it’s International Women’s Day.


“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me as a woman artist to talk to other people there, male or female.

“If I can inspire anybody with the way I do my art, that would be great. It’s going to be an interesting evening.” Author Janet Bennett will discuss her three books on Burton’s Caribbean community as well as a recent exhibition with photographer Martin Naidu called ‘Community Clicks’, due to be published this year in book form.

She jokingly describes herself as ‘a writer who tolerates photographers’.


Burton singer Hayley Di Rito, a former Mail employee, will end the evening by talking about her life as a film make-up artist — she worked on ‘Robin Hood’, starring Russell Crowe — and singer.

Miss Di Rito, who has performed throughout the Midlands and is a regular feature at The Dial in Station Street, Burton, will also perform a selection of her favourite songs with Blue Yates on acoustic guitar.

Tickets for the evening event, which will run from 7pm to 9.30pm, are £3.50 each, or £2.50 for those entitled to concessions.

Advanced booking is advised.

Bookings for all of the events can be made by telephoning 01283 239556.

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.................

Quietly questioning, and all that it entails!

Although I'm busy finalising the planning for the painting I'm doing, I also need to think long and hard about the talk I'm doing at the library at Burton on Trent in less than a fortnight's time.

I've got my talk half written, but it needs to be more succinct, and I need to have it as word perfect as I can, for the night.

So, to that end, I went for a walk, deciding that physical movement would be more conducive to evaluating thought processes.

It didn't matter that it was raining.

It seemed to add to it, somehow, so I didn't bother taking an umbrella, and expected to come back drenched. I didn't, in the end, get totally drenched, but I was certainly a little moist around the edges! But, I was definitely  more mentally focused, because of it, so that was good! I spent the forty minutes of walking going through the talk, and thinking of the order of the way I wanted to say things.

And hadn't been back long, well, long enough for me to dry off, change my wet jeans, make a cup of tea, and think about what I was going to do next, before the phone rang.

It was a journalist from the Burton Mail paper, wanting a chat about the talk I shall be doing at the library, as he's going to be writing a piece for the paper and although he already had a press release about me, he wanted a bit more information to pad it out a bit.

We talked easily and he asked me what my feelings were about doing the talk for the library and I told him how proud I was as a woman artist to be part of the celebrations for International Womens Day, and talked a bit about my art, my life, and how it was helping me to focus again after the challenges and traumas of last year. He listened, and asked a few questions, and wrote as I spoke. Then he paused, and asked me if I'd like to be involved in a feature the paper does regularly, asking the same questions of all manner of people in the news at the moment. I said I'd gladly like to answer his questions, and we made an arrangement for him to call me back in the very near future.

And then I voiced the question that was paramount in my head.

"And are you going to give me prior notice of the questions, or do I just have to answer them when you ask them?"

He chuckled, and said that of course he'd give me the questions beforehand, as the answers would be better if I could mull them over first.

And told me what they were.......

Where was I born and bred?
Hobbies?
Favourite book, film, food?
Proudest moment?
Most embarrassing moment?
Biggest inspiration?
Hopes for the future?
Biggest/best achievement?
If you ruled the world.......................
Pet hate
Greatest love
Favourite belonging?
Perfect night in/out?
What would your epitaph say?

Phew! So, nothing much there that's easy then! I don't even know that I can narrow my favourite film down to JUST the one! At least I know where I was born, and what my favourite food is, but the rest of it...MMmm... deep stuff!

And, just to make it even harder, some of it can't be mentioned in a family newspaper....... unless I can word it a little differently......Well, I AM an Erotic Artist after all !!!!   LOL

Connecting Adsheads fifty years apart

My friend Stuart rang me yesterday to tell me I was mentioned in a local East Midlands paper, the Derby Telegraph.

He had written a long article for the paper reminiscing about his wedding 50 years ago comparing it to the prices and times of nowadays. He regularly writes articles for their "Bygones" features describing his life and the things he remembers of his childhood and younger days working for a bookmakers by the name of  Norton Adshead in Burton on Trent. I asked him if he could get me a copy and he said he'd already got one and would send the relevant sheets on to me...... and they duly arrived this morning.

I read it with a mixture of warmth and general happiness as he writes informatively and interestingly about his life. But it was the final couple of paragraphs of the article that caught my attention most...

"I have recently tried my hand at being a life model for a talented local artist. By a strange coincidence, her name is Jackie Adshead, but she has no connection with my former employer.

I found it a very interesting experience but really hard work. She has drawn six nude studies of me of which I am very proud. There's life in the old dog yet!"

I'll ring him later to thank him for the article, and the mention, but I know how much he loves the drawings I've done of him, as he shows them to everyone in his life close and far. I think he's a wonderful example of trying new things even later on in life, and enjoying the contact of communication. Cheers Stuart!