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.

Money money money

I'm a happy bunny today - I've just been told a local gallery has sold one of my paintings. Big smiles. I'll go and collect my money in a bit - the price of the painting minus their commission. It makes up for the lack of sales last weekend!

Selling art is a funny business. Pricing it is very tricky. I've always tried to be fair with my pricing - selling at the price I consider a good amount for the work done and expertise involved. I have a basic hourly rate in my head that I sort of work around to find the price. Its probably a lot higher than the majority of artists in this locale, but I know I'm better than most of them, or at least I value myself higher because I know I can tackle subjects and techniques that a lot of them can't. I spoke to a botanical artist the other day, who is incredibly talented, and sells his paintings very well. He knows he's good at what he does. He spends hours and hours and long hours on his artwork and works in directly opposing ways to my technique - he will glaze over and over many times on each area of a flower petal, a leaf or a piece of fruit. He wants the finished painting to look exactly the same as the item infront of him, and I think that's incredibly admirable. But I don't paint like that. I use splatter and fluid lines and lost and found edges in my work to show movement and life and much prefer the effect. But should I charge the same price as him? He will agonise for ages over the tiniest piece of colour, I spend ages thinking about the emotional effect my art will convey through colour and line and composition.

A few years ago I joined a local art group and asked the chairman a lot of questions regarding how my art should move forward. He helped me a lot with good wholesome advice based on his expertise and experience. One of the things I asked him was about how to price my work. His advice was "Double it!" which took me aback. "What? Double the prices? Will people pay it"? "Yes", he said, "They will". And he's been right, they have. But then if I join another art organisation which is of a far higher profile (and I'm working on that very thing at this very moment!) do I carry on doubling the prices? I think the answer is probably yes. People expect it. But the work is still of the same quality and calibre as it is now, the only thing that's changed is the price tag. And people will still pay it. I know of an artist who was selling his work through a VERY famous shop in London some years ago, and was asked his price for one particular painting that a member of another countries royal family was interested in purchasing. The artist named his high price and was told to put another zero on the end of it. ANOTHER ZERO????? Yes - it was expected! The price was too cheap otherwise and the prince wouldn't have been interested........ The picture was sold at the higher price. Point made.

So, I think the point I'm making is.......... get me now whilst I'm going cheap ........ so to speak......

Whats new?

I'm still thinking about what I want to do regarding promoting myself and the offer the businessman made last week to invest a lot of money in advertising me as an artist (and also wanting a large share of the profits afterwards) but part of that decision will also be formed by the fact that after all the hard work, the build up and great expectations of the big exhibition last weekend - I didn't sell a single bloody thing! They hung eight of my ten paintings which was great considering they had well over a thousand paintings entered and were limited on hanging space. They did everything they could to sell paintings at the exhibition. My particular pictures were in a good prominent place just by the door, with good lighting and exposure, I was the first name in the catalogue of about a hundred artists and there were thousands of people visiting the place over the weekend. I had a good selection of paintings which elicited good positive reactions from people - I did everything RIGHT - and still NO SODDING sales! ........But.... it's the way it goes. Its annoying and aggravating and just part of being an artist and there's absolutely no point in getting depressed or losing sleep over it. BUT what it does underline is the fact that there's not much point in spending a small fortune on finding a good site, no matter how much is spent on promoting the exhibition to get the people to see the work, when the people might like the work very much but don't want to actually go so far as to BUY any of it. Loads of advertising does not equal many sales. So the lesson learnt this week is to find a better place that is good for me to exhibit in but which does not involve huge outpourings of hard earned cash which will be just good money down the drain. And I have a couple of ideas as to where is best for me to go next on that subject...... which I shall tell you about should I have any success with them......



Meantime I'm not quite on bread and water yet and have been busy drawing.......



And on to the erotic drawing of this week - another white on black drawing with just a hint of colour adding instant interest and awareness. The painting is called "Warm up" and is of a pair of female buttocks bent over, the rest of the body and legs just hinted at as they recede into the darkness, and above them, suspended in mid air is a single hand, clenched around a riding crop, angled ready to strike the buttocks again and again, just starting to mark them and warm them up to a full bloom of colouring.