Queynte 21

Here it is, painted in acrylics, on board 20 x 16 inches, the latest Queynte to join the illustrious group of very feminine portraits that I have painted -otherwise known as the "Fantasy Fannies" . Its the twenty first one I've done, so it's called "Queynte 21" quite naturally. I love the mixture of strong colours against the strong shapes of this one. And as always find the more I look at it, the more I fall in love with it, which I know is often the case for the women who have had their queynte painted from the very positive feedback they've given me over the last few years since I started doing them. I know that most women find the process of having the painting done a deeply therapeutic experience, and that they feel empowered by them, and that it showcases the woman that they are, the private woman within, but here for the whole world to see. I love the fact that they are a celebration of womanhood, and are bright and vibrant and beautiful. And although they are an abstract the shapes are true to the feminine form, its just the colours that are more striking than the original colours. And like all the others it has the image of a woman within the picture as a reminder of what the image is about, and what it is there for.

 I don't need to say the name of the woman who has participated in having her portrait painted, or say where she lives or even what her nationality is. That is for her to say, if she so wishes. I will keep her anonymity otherwise.

I love doing these paintings, as a woman artist painting them for other women around the world. The majority of the women who have participated I haven't met face to face, I wouldn't know them if they turned up on my doorstep tomorrow, but I feel that we are part of a sisterhood, of women who want to be depicted in strong vibrant colours, and want this spiritual experience to mark that empowerment. So, who will be next I wonder.......

International Women

Well yesterday was International Women's Day and I was honoured and delighted  to be asked to do a talk about being an Erotic Artist at the Library at Burton on Trent in celebration of it, alongside designer Mariama Tushemeriirwe, author Janet Bennett and singer Hayley Di Rito who was accompanied by Blue Yates on the guitar. And I feel that the audience were very appreciative of our talks and that we were very inspirational for them. It was interesting for me to hear the other speakers talk about aspects of their lives, and to hear the positive affirmation of striving to follow your dream, overcoming hardships, finding people who inspire and help your creativity, finding support through like minded people, and being brave enough to tell others about it, and finding how much they appreciate the fact you do! Wow! What a night!

Various friends had rung, emailed or texted me to wish me good luck before hand, which was really sweet that they were thinking of me and wanted to wish me well with their support, I really did appreciate it!

I arrived a good hour early and was met by the positive and ever helpful Janet, who works at the library, and introduced me to the lovely Mariama, and we were shown the set up and the stage and seating for the audience. Ok, it was relaxed and informal and the emphasis was on the word "fun" for the evening. I'd been practicing my talk for a few days beforehand, and hoped that I wouldn't dry up during it! I was on in the first half, after Mariama had spoken. Then there was to be an interval for coffee and then Janet spoke, followed by Hayley singing. I'd met the delightful Hayley briefly in somewhat different circumstances, since she was at the house of a friend of mine the other week, and we'd said hi over a game of Trivial Pursuit!

There were enough people in the mostly feminine audience for me to still feel that I could relate to them as individuals and I was delighted that they came to speak to me before and after my talk, and at the end of the evening. Some were inspired enough to want to talk to me about the possibility of me doing commissions for them, some wanted to talk about the prints I'd taken with me, and some wanted to talk about their interest in art. All interesting, as ever, and really nice to interact with them as friendly people. The head librarian asked me afterwards how many times I'd said my talk before and was surprised when I said it was the first time. He said that it sounded natural and I said that I'd been practicing it out loud  for the last few days, so I'm glad that I did, even if the cat was a little bemused my by actions!!!!

It's been interesting for me to sum up my life so far in a succinct talk lasting 20 minutes, to complete strangers. I looked at the who-what-why-how-where-when aspect to help me put it in order. And its really focused me again on to what I do and who I am. One woman told me afterwards that she was enthralled with my talk, so that was great to hear! And for those who missed it - this is the basis of my talk:


Hello, I’m Jackie Adshead and I’m a landscape painter.
I also paint portraits of humans and animals, houses, scenes and various objects,  cats and dogs, horses, tigers and other big cats, children, mythical beasts, and fantasy pictures. But you’re not interested in that, because no one ever is! I don’t know why, but people are always far more interested in the fact I do Erotic art, more than anything else! And for some reason, I always seem to sell more erotic art than the “normal stuff”. But then what is normal? For me, erotic art is.

I’ve spent all my life painting. I’ve never stopped since I first picked up a crayon as a toddler, and I had my first commission at the age of 13 for my history teacher at school, and I've painted many things for many people, but the artwork has changed a bit since then! So I’ve always had the talent to paint within me, but I like to push my boundaries a bit, and like a challenge, and love to be creative so for that reason I am probably unusual in that I will paint any subject matter, I don’t limit myself to just painting flowers, or landscapes, or people. Or to a certain style. I love to paint in watercolours, acrylics or oils. And to draw with pencil or pen and ink. And I do surreal, abstracts, fantasy, camouflage art, as well as representational. I am a painter rather than an illustrator. In that I try to catch the essence and feel of the subject rather than a totally true representation. You can use a camera for that. But the image will be more stark. Painting is softer and more accepting, accentuating the good bits, and lessening the bad bits.


I know I am unusual in that I am a woman doing erotic art. But I love doing it, as an artist painting other people and making them look good. I love to see women in art, and painting art for women, as a woman artist. I believe all women can look erotic, regardless of their age, or body size. We all like to feel attractive, it’s that that I try to find, to pick up on, and put the essence of it into the painting.


I am most inspired by Caravaggio for his dramatic use of light and deep darks. And I also love the work of Dali, Jack Vettriano, Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta, Josephine Wall, Jim Warren.


I must admit, as far as jobs go, there aren’t many jobs where it’s perfectly normal for people to take their clothes off for you – but my job is one of them! People feel at ease when I draw them. They take their clothes off, and I just keep the eye contact, and whatever they look like is ok. They will only find it strange if the response is negative. To me it’s a positive experience.

Having said that, as far as I’m concerned drawing a human body is just the same as drawing a bottle or a vase of flowers, I look at the lines, and the tones, the form, where the light is hitting the body and work out the best composition. People sometimes ask me if I’m turned on by looking at the erotic images, and are probably surprised when I say that I am not. Its just work for me! Because it’s just an object I’m drawing regardless of what it is. But, what I have to bear in mind when I draw an erotic image is that I don’t feel sexy when I’m drawing the picture, and the model might not even feel sexy if it’s a difficult pose and they’re trying to keep still for me. But, what I need to capture is that certain something, the essence, that will make the viewer feel erotic when they look at it. And that is such a subtle thing to capture, and is something that may be different in all of us.


The way I describe “erotic” is that it is something that makes you wonder...... what has that person done beforehand to now be in that position and place and time, and what are they going to do next? The way I describe “erotic” is this – if I draw any one of you sitting here as you are now, it would be a portrait. If you were sitting here in the same position stark naked, then it would be a life drawing pose. If you were sitting here stark naked doing something graphically sexual (and I’ll leave that to your vivid imaginations!) then that would be pornographic. But that leaves nothing to the imagination. But what I draw is the erotic – the sensual, the sexy and the suggestive. And I can draw an erotic image where the woman in it is fully clothed, because it may just be the look on her face that makes it look erotic. And erotic is becoming more acceptable in main stream. We’re all used to seeing erotic images in magazines and on the telly – and don’t tell me that Nigella Lawson isn’t promoting erotic, because she is! Her cooking is a by-product! It’s the enjoyment of sensual things – whether its food, sensual experiences or erotic art.

How I started being an Erotic Artist was by attending life drawing classes about ten years ago, and I found that a strange experience to start with, until I realised that although the room was full of people, and one of them was totally naked, it was all quite normal, and the naked woman was an object, like a beautiful vase, and not something that was considered dirty and rude, so I just got on with drawing, as was everyone else in the room, and I realised how difficult it is, because if you draw a tree, it doesn’t matter if the trunk is a little too wide, or if one of the branches is too long, but it does if it’s a human body, the measurements have to be right, and the arms and legs need to look like they are all connected to the body and that the head sits on the shoulders. But after a few weeks of being at a life drawing class and looking at the work I’d done, I wondered how I could make it look more interesting, and life like, and I realised that it’s what I was leaving out that made the picture more interesting, as it leaves it to your imagination. And I drew with white crayon on black card instead of black pencil on white paper and that made it more dramatic. And it evolved from there.


I love it when someone contacts me and wants me to paint their passion, because then I can put my passion into creating it for them. And it doesn’t matter if it’s erotic or not, I just love painting!


But as well as erotic art I love painting secrets – and have done some erotic landscapes (see, I told you I was a landscape painter!). I had a commission a few years ago from a chap from Windsor, who asked me to paint a picture of the New York skyline at night as the typical picture but with an erotic couple hidden within the painting so that people viewing it wouldn’t know unless they looked closer or had it pointed out to them. And also that very same week (and there must have been something in the air that week!)  that he asked me to paint that picture I was commissioned to do a painting for a woman in Dorset who wanted an erotic picture to hang over her bed that her four year old son wouldn’t recognise as anything other than a landscape. She wanted me to paint an erotic landscape where the couple are actually the geography of the land - the picture is based on Lands End – there is sky, sea, cliffs, a beach, sand dunes, a cave, and a tree, and a bit of a phallic lighthouse in the distance. And to innocent eyes, this picture is nothing more than that. But to less innocent people, it is far more than that. You can see the man and the woman within the picture, and you can see what they are doing. It is both erotic, and a landscape. And it’s the thing that I am most proud about, because it took three months of hard work to design it. And innocence only sees innocence in my work.


But as well as that I love hiding the subject matter within my art too – like in the set of erotic feminine abstracts that I have painted that just looks like brightly colourful abstract shapes, but are actually a very intimate picture although most people looking at it wouldn’t have a clue – which makes it the ultimate conversation piece as far as I am concerned! A female Sex Therapist told me that a lot of her patients have issues with their body image, and seeing my beautiful and positive paintings might help them to over-come that. They have empowered the women who have participated in them, since they find them therapeutic and spiritual, and a little bit naughty as well! They are currently hanging on walls in America, and England, and a woman contacted me from New Zealand in raptures over them and what they stood for. I love the fact they are affecting women world wide. I painted one for a woman in Canada whose young step-son described it as “the sky diving picture”, because that was what it looked like to him. Again, innocence only sees innocence.

And from doing those pictures I was asked by a woman in California to paint a body portrait of her in the style of the feminine abstracts . She rang me specifically to tell me which tones and shades of which colours she wanted in it, and which she didn’t. And that's how I developed the “Living Flame” pictures. They are pastel colours glazed one on top of the other to create pretty and translucent shades which everyone seems to find very appealing. I’ve painted a chap from London in this style, as well as a couple which I sold to a collector of my work, in Chicago. I love the fact that one painting might lead on to another one because of one aspect that evolves into another and so on. The ideas for the art flow on and I love that aspect.


And I like to hide messages within my art too – like when I was asked to do a watercolour painting for a couple from London of a particular village in Southern France that they had visited a lot, and I suggested that they might like their initials hidden within the buildings itself. They loved that idea, as it made it far more personal to them, but I knew we were going to have a problem, as did the woman when I mentioned it. So, I had to just put in just their initials, and not the “and” part – since otherwise it would have spelt out “M & S” or worse still “S & M”!

I have exhibited a lot in the East Midlands, and with the Guild of Erotic Artists who are based in St. Albans in the Hertfordshire. I am featured in their second book, and have copies to sell if anyone is interested. It’s an international group and they actively try to promote the acceptance of erotic art. Having said that of course, it’s becoming more and more acceptable when you open most glossy magazines, or look at the adverts on the telly. But it’s a really nice friendly group to be part of and they are very supportive to everyone in the group. I have exhibited twice at Erotica (the liberated lifestyle event) at Olympia in London, which was an eye opening experience and great fun! I got chatting to a guy there who asked me “Why is a nice girl like you exhibiting here?” and the answer I gave him was that if I could sell enough vanilla artwork then I wouldn’t need to sell erotic stuff! But, I do love doing it, because it’s difficult, and the most challenging of art to do, because of the subtle nuances of it. It's my niche market, and its one I love.


I am on Facebook. I have a website which promotes my art worldwide, and I write a blog about being an erotic artist, and some of the very strange conversations I have with people. Someone once thought I was an erratic artist. And someone else thought I was a neurotic artist, I don’t know how one of those paints, very shakily, I suppose!

I have had a number of people brought to tears through a special commission that they’ve asked me to do, and when that happens I know it’s because I’ve touched their soul with mine. I know that people like to see what they look like through another person’s eyes, and I know I have been good therapy to some of the people who I have drawn, because they’ve told me so, with emotion in their voices. Someone I drew with a perceived lack of confidence says I’m good therapy because she was surprised I wanted to draw her and that she was so inspirational for me. Her elderly mother got emotional because when she saw the images as it reminded her of how she was as a younger woman. I have seen within them and it’s deeper than looking in a mirror.


And I’d like to think that I have brought a lot of pleasure to people through my art. I know I have done so far, and I hope to continue to do so. I try to touch people’s hearts and hope that they feel more enriched through knowing me. And I hope that I am an inspiration.


What I love most, and try to paint, is the thing that I think is most important in the world. And that is the power of communication - whether it is through the spoken word, touch, empathy, painting pictures for other people’s pleasure, or for my own, the written word, or just the look between two people. And as a woman, I think that’s important for us all.

Thankyou.

In search of the Goddess within

Before I paint someone it helps to know a bit about them. Just so that I have a better understanding of the essence of that person, to be able to incorporate it into the portrait. I don't need to know all the tiny details of the persona, just the bare facts will help. For anyone really. Male, female, young, old, mortal or immortal....

Immortal? You ask. Certainly! A beautiful Goddess, no, more than that - seven of them!

So when I'm asked to paint a Goddess, I need to know abit about her.
When I'm asked to paint seven Goddesses, for one painting,  I need to know about each one. In some detail.

I always say that nine tenths of painting a picture, no matter how complex it is, is the thinking that goes into  it. The subject, the composition, the techniques to use, the medium, the size, the story behind the image, the whole ambience I'm trying to capture within my painting. So, seven Goddesses needs a lot of research, because I don't know much about any of them, infact I'd only heard of three of them when I was asked to do the painting......

MMm.....some background details are needed, I realised. Start to find some more about them, to be able to capture the essence of each one... but that has made me realise that I need to read up even more on each of them, as being a Goddess is obviously a very complex thing. You've got a lot to be Goddess of, I've found, and some of them have varied and diverse connections.......

Take, for example, Hecate, the goddess associated with witches, ghosts, magic and crossroads (why crossroads I wondered, why not just roads?), torches (why torches specifically? why not just "fire"?), dogs (what's dogs got to do with anything to do with magic, witches and ghosts?), doorways, yew, garlic, aconites,  raisin cakes (what the ?!!) masks, candles, owls, bats, trivia, sheep - particularly black female lambs apparently, snakes, boars, willows, sapphire, silver, dark moons, and specifically the number three (what a weird mix THEY all are!).

I haven't found out much about Demeter yet, she is the Goddess of grain and fertility, ploughing and harvest, the bringer of seasons - and all of that sounds very nice and gently rural and buccolic - especially when I consider Kali!

There's Isis - a moon goddess of medicine, wisdom, motherhood, fertility, children, reincarnation.

And Astarte - goddess of war AND fertility, love, sexual energy and desire (how on earth are THEY connected?).

And Innana - source of the earths wells, springs and rivers, she is the goddess of sexual love, fertility and warfare (ah, there's starting to be a pattern here!) associated with lions, mating and fertility of humans and animals, and with rain and storms.

Then, there's Kali - who seems to a bit disconcerting to me -she's associated with eternal energy, time and change, war, death and destruction. But when I mentioned to my spiritual healer friend that I found Kali to be very dark, she told me that Kali "is actually a really nice goddess even if she DOES have the ability to be a bit stroppy". Mm...... "stroppy" eh? She seems more than "a bit stroppy" to me!

But my favourite is Diana - the ancient lady of the beasts. Mistress of wild things, especailly anything young and vulnerable, goddess of solitude, the wilderness and the great silences of nature, she is a moon goddess, a self sufficient goddess who lives life on her own terms. She is especially a goddess of women, and all the phases of womanhood, she stands for the part of us that is at home in the wilderness, in our primitive, instinctual nature. Goddess of the hunt, associated with wild animals and woodland, swelling on high mountains and sacred woods, especially oak groves.

Mmm..... I can really relate to the goddess Diana already- I can feel what she is. I can feel her force. I'll start with her, and see what I can see of her face, and then I've got to draw her and capture that essence in paint. Easy, eh?! :)  And that's before I start on the others - particularly Kali!!!!

Unveiling of the Queyntes

Well now, where was I? Oh, yes I remember! Fannies!! (or for the Americans amongst you Pussies!!).

Just to give you the background before I do the grand unveiling, I wrote a year ago (and it is a year, all but one day, now that I've checked, Wow!) about wanting to do the paintings as a celebration of womanhood - as bright and colourful abstracts of their most innermost secret places. The thought was that when someone has their portrait painted, its of their face with their name as the title - but in this case I wanted the names to be anonymous - so unless the participants reveal it, I won't say who they are. I originally asked for volunteers and at the time ten women contacted me, but I only received good enough photos from seven of them - and these are the original seven here. I hope that more women will be interested in having their "Queynte" painted and I would love to see them all part of an exhibition somewhere for the world to see - because just seeing the seven of them together is a beautiful thing already! I hope to sell any to anyone who is interesting in purchasing them - but at this moment I have no idea what price to put on them because I have put so much of MYSELF in them, I don't know how to put a financial value on it as yet (I will in time, I just need to think a bit about it for a while!). I painted them intuitively - which is a new concept for me - and one I like very much. It was the right way of painting them, as they are so personal, and abstract. The point of the abstraction was so that they, although anatomically correct, are hidden enough in colouring and some of the external shapes to hide the image for what it is. I want them to be hung on a wall so that anyone other than the people who know, would not know what they are - except for something exotic flower shapes maybe, that may just resemble something subconsciously and vaguely erotic.....

They are painted in acylics on 20 x 16 inch boards. The reason I used the acrylics was because I needed the paint to be bright and to dry quickly and cleanly, leaving me time to work intuitively and quickly without the annoyance of waiting for paint to dry (and losing the impetuous of the intuitive way of painting) or of the paint annoyingly merging into other colours and muddying the effect. I liked using the board as it absorbed the paint very quickly, leaving no room for error or a change of colour. Once the colour was put on the board, it stayed there, and other than brightening a colour here or there for more depth, I haven't overworked it to ruin the effect (always a concern for artists!).

At the moment, all the participants are bloggers, but that doesn't exclude any other woman from participating, I won't restrict it to that degree.

All the paintings have a woman hidden within the folds to remind you what the image is about.

I'm delighted with them - I've put so much of myself IN them, and they are EXACTLY what I predicted last year that I wanted them to be - bright, beautiful and SHAMELESS.

So, now they're here - what do you think of them.......

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...................?

What do you call a collection of pussies?

The fantasy fanny collection seems to have got properly off the ground now - which I am delighted about! Todate, I have ...........wait for it...............ten ........participants! Yay!! Which makes a good set of paintings, and bodes well for the start of an interesting collection. My plan is for them to be exhibited somewhere - hopefully a gallery will be interested in them, as I would love to see them all shown together. Since this is a celebration of womanhood and the desirability of women, it should be big, bright and beautiful. And I have to make the paintings slightly abstract with a surreal twist otherwise the collection will look something like a gynaecologists convention!


But..... what to call the paintings - I've been thinking about it ever since the idea was first discussed. I've been referring to it as "Pussy portraits" or "Fanny fantasies" but I knew that wouldn't be the finished title as I didn't want the local cat lovers group arriving and being shocked that it wasn't a set of paintings featuring fluffy kittens playing with balls of string. And since the word fanny means something totally different to the English than to Americans, neither did I want an Americans thinking it was of bums! Plus I didn't want the title to particularly have the normal swear words in it, as that would make it seem derogatory - and that is CERTAINLY not my intention. So........ on to other words....... but then there were words that have differing meanings - slits, snatches etc. and I wasn't happy with them either. So - a bit of further investigation has come up with much better words, and included in them is what I consider to be the perfect word - one that is suitably apt for what I am doing........ I love the old words for pussy like coint, coynte, quaint, qwaynt but my favourite of them all is queynte. Queynte is an old English word that is apparently a pun on the word "cunt" and its also from where the word "quim" is derived, and it means "many layered in-folded mystery". How perfect is that????!!!! So the paintings will be anonymous as to the identity of the owner and will be very simply called:"Queynte 1", "Queynte 2", "Queynte 3" etc.


And it's particularly apt regarding the many layered mystery as the point of the paintings is an affirmation of the desirability of women, especially the part that a lot of women may not be wholly comfortable with, and which is normally hidden from the world. I like the idea of calling the whole collection "Shameless" as they will be without shame about their beauty and their power. They know they are desirable, that their lovers want to be there, it's where they accept lovers, and where life starts. And in particular to this, I want the identities of the women to be a secret, so that whilst they are happy to have their pussies on show, the normal recognition of their identities and faces will be the part that's hidden. Regarding the participants, each persons identity will remain a secret unless they wish to tell other people that they have participated, and which one is theirs.

I want to do them as a set of largish paintings of close-ups of fannies. I want them to appear to be abstract paintings, that could hang on a wall and anyone looking at them would think that it’s a nice contemporary painting but then they might think it looks just like a fanny before they get a jolt when they realize that actually it IS close-up of a fanny! I want the images to be brightly coloured, with bold shapes and lines, and they will probably be slightly abstract, and each one will have the surreal twist of the hint of a naked woman drawn amongst the folds. The hidden woman is the reference to everyone having secrets, deep within them, and a reminder of the essence of what I am actually depicting within the painting, even if it does looks abstract.

The finished paintings will be 20 inches by 16 inches, so I’ll need as much detail as possible from the photographs that I will be working from, so that I can fill the painting. And since I have more to paint than I first considered, I will also have to paint them in different colours, or else it'll look too uniform and boring when they are all exhibited together.

Oh, and I have been asked a question today - well , THE QUESTION, actually, the one that I have been expecting form someone at some point. The "Are you going to participate in this, too, Jackie?" question. And my answer? It has to be "Yes". I have to be part of this if its going to be a celebration of women - because how can I not be part of it? But, mine, like the others, will be a secret as to which it is.



So......... now I need to find someone to take some photos for me............... Now, who shall I ask.......???

Capturing stray pussies

Further to my posting "Dare to bare - pussy wanted" on 17th August I'm delighted at the response that (so far) six ladies have volunteered to keep their faces (and to an extent, their identities) hidden but their fannies on show - well, technically, its six but the last one has been volunteered by someone else and they have suggested I send her an email to ask for her details. Now that was an interesting email to send as she isn't a blogger I know as well as the others, only as someone on the peripheries of other people's blogs....... so the wording had to be........er...........tactful! Something along the lines of "Hello, you don't know me, but your mate has volunteered you to pose intimately for me, so if you're willing, can you send me some close-up photos of your fanny?" ...... and since I've sent the email I've not heard anything, so she's either cowering in a dark corner petrified at the thought, or laughing her head off and trying to work out HOW to take the photos. Cos it's not easy, at all. I've already had some photos sent to me, and had to direct the angle/lighting/focus and composition by email and words. It would be far easier to take the photos myself since I know exactly what I want, to be able to work from, to produce some detailed paintings, but of course that's not possible to do. The one thing that all the ladies concerned have expressed is the difficultly in getting the photos taken. And I'm sure all the guys out there would jump at the chance to take the photos for them.........!

But............ when I get my collection of photos together I will be able to start painting, and since this little.............er................exhibition.... was mooted, I've had chance to talk to the volunteers and think about what they want and what I want to express in my painting. I did a practice drawing the other week and wasn't at all happy with the outcome. I ended up with something that could be taken as a gynecological technical drawing, or in certain lights, maybe a botanical drawing of a rare and exotic orchid. And that isn't what this is about, not for me. Its a celebration of womanhood, an affirmation of the beauty and desirability of females. And because of that, the images should be bright, with strong shapes, and very colourful, probably slightly abstract or maybe a touch surreal, as I fancy introducing the hint of a naked woman amongst the folds, and think that that as an idea will work well. I want to use bright pinks, reds, oranges and golds, and maybe purples, blues and blacks for the hidden depths. I want the paintings to be hung on a wall for people to see, and think they're looking at some abstract design until they realise with gut-wrenching shock that they're actually looking at close-ups of womanhood - open, and on view, for all the world to see, and admire, like some erotic flower.

Suprise turn

Chatting with a friend in the pub last night, he told me again that he wanted to pose for me. He'd told me this last week too, but I thought it was the late night beer talking. He's never posed for an artist before and is both thrilled and scared at the same time (always a potent mix for erotica!!). He said that his life is mundane, and the chance of me drawing him lifts his life out of the mundane. I was touched and appreciated his candour, and obvious delight at our forthcoming painting session. He says he'll be guided by me, for what pose I'll put him in, and is perfectly happy for me to publish the end result on my website and blog. That's nice, that he puts so much trust in me, and will be happy with the outcome, before even seeing it (although he's viewed my erotic art on my website and is impressed with it, so he knows how I paint). I'm looking forward to doing it with him. There aren't many jobs in the world, where people are happy to take their clothes off for you! There's something of the extrovert in people who can do it. I'm happy to give them the chance.

I'm wondering this week why most of my recent interesting and in-depth erotic conversations are with straight guys and bi-sexual women. There must be a reason for this. Is it that straight women just don't talk about erotica - with me at least - or is it that only straight men and bi women are interested and open about it?

Now, I've got to get some landscapes painted - how vanilla! - and not half as interesting as erotic art.

To hide what already is hidden

Further to the last comments regarding drawing hornymaleuk, and considering appropriate poses for the drawing, its struck me that its going to be very challenging to produce an image of him. I have to draw a decent picture - easy enough, I have to make it erotic, reasonably easy enough, I have to make a picture he will he happy with, ok, and one he's happy other people seeing, ok, but also I have to create a picture that is the essence of his alter ego of "hornymaleuk" without the people in his everyday life knowing that its him (should they ever get the chance to see it and recognise instantly who it is!) so I have to hide his face, and probably his body shape, age, hair colour, ears (they're so distinctive for every person!) and maybe hands - I don't know yet. I'll know better when I see him. At this rate I might just end up drawing his shoulder blade - and that's hardly erotic!!!!!!


Lucy Felthouse has recently written a very hot story based on my
"Red shoes" image on Fantasy Nuggets and the model for the drawing has just found out and went a real WOW over it! Especially as she had no idea about it. She loved the fact that her pose had led to my erotic drawing in the first place (her delight on seeing it at the time was wonderful to see), but the fact that the image has since led on to an erotic story has added an extra dimension for her. And the fact that three women - the model, artist, and writer, have this erotic inter-relationship based partly on what was going through the models head at the time of her posing is really interesting creatively.