Big big stuff

Well, you're not going to believe this - but after almost a year of talking about it - I've finally done it! And its turned out exactly as I had hoped as well as being far more than I had hoped - if that makes sense......

I've painted something so very close to my heart - something that may well be the "big thing" in my artistic life - maybe even the ultimate "thing" - I wonder, unless it moves me on to other even more important things. Maybe.

I need to explain more for you to understand what I'm talking about.......

I've been painting all my life - all of it - and the majority of what I've painted has been representational - in that it looks like whatever it is, and I've put my artistic talents into painting a good version of it in my own style. And anyone looking at the painting would know what it is and recognise it as such.

But my big dream of last year was to paint something so totally different, it was just a "feeling" - a strong one, but not at all my normal way of painting, and this is why I'm so totally excited about what I've done recently - because its pulled something out of me that I didn't fully recognise was there - its big stuff, this!!!

What I've painted, if you haven't already gathered, as the "Fantasy Fannies" that I've been wanting to paint for the last year since it was first mooted - and now that I've done them, I'm stunned by their beauty, their vibrancy, their life and soul, the very embodiment of them!

And the reason I'm so taken with them, is because of the way I've painted them - although they are drawn from the gynealogical photos I have, and are representational in their basic shapes - the way I have painted them is by "feeling" the abstract colour of each area. Normally, to paint an area in painting, I will look at the colour and think "Well, that's a bit of burnt sienna, with a touch of cobalt blue and maybe a little raw sienna to tone it down" - and that is the colour I'm seeing, so that is the colour I paint. But not with these fanny paintings - I will look at the area of colour I'm about to paint and I might think "Well, it looks pinky with a touch of purple going into yellow, but theres a bit of blue there too" - BUT what I will paint is the colour it feels like compared to the colours around it - and that may well be bright orange or lime green! And since the whole painting is painted that way - it makes for a very interesting and dynamic painting! But now that I've done quite a few of the paintings, when they are all viewed together, they have a HUGE WOW factor!!!!!! Fucking hell, YYEEEESSSSSSS !!!!!!!!

They're beautiful........... Really beautiful.

I've reached down into my soul to paint them - and it shows. Its like nothing else I've ever done before. Ever.

But you're going to have to wait a bit before I show them to you.....................

Balancing act

As an artist you'd think I spent most of my time painting - and yet........ I don't. Yes, I do spend a LOT of it painting or drawing but the majority of my time is actually spent doing things that are part of being an artist - updating my website, writing this blog, looking for new work, making sure people know what I do by either advertising, or telling them, or finding good ways of promoting what I do. Or buying new art materials, finding good places to buy frames, talking to gallery owners and asking for feedback re my paintings, going on art workshops or courses to learn new skills and techniques, talking to other artists, finding perspective buyers and chatting to them, answering their questions and queries, finding good places to exhibit locally, and having to steward them, having a social life that revolves around art and artists. So when a friend who dabbles in painting by copying a picture he's found in a magazine, said airily and rhetorically to me "Painting's soooooo relaxing isn't it?" he was amazed at my denial. NO IT BLOODY ISN'T!!!!! Its bloody hard work!!!! Even my holidays are spent looking at the local landscape and wondering if it would make a good backdrop for a painting - my "holiday photos" are always taken with the thought that I could use them for a painting somewhere. If I've got time to sit down and read a book, I feel that it ought to be a art reference book. My spare time should be spent going to more galleries and exhibitions than I probably do........

And yet, I painted a picture this week, and was happy with it, its exactly what I wanted it to be. But that doesn't just happen. I have to work at it. I have to THINK about it. And that in itself is tiring. At the end of a painting session I'm mentally whacked. I always say that producing a painting is nine tenths thinking about it, and one tenth painting it!

But I'm not moaning - its the way it is. I don't HAVE to do any of it. I could sit at home and watch telly all day and do fuck all art. BUT I don't........ I CHOOSE to do this!

Its been a hard day...........................I'm tired.

Decluttering the dust

Its been an extremely productive day, art wise, extremely! And yet...... I haven't once picked up a paintbrush to paint or drawn anything or produced any artwork at all today. The nearest I've come to any artwork was a pastel drawing of a topless woman that I framed for the Erotic Guild of Artists gallery, the next time I go there.

No, the reason I say I've had a productive art day is because I've had a tidy up in my studio - how exciting you yawn, and yet it has been! I've thrown virtually nothing away except odd scraps of paper with scrawled notes long since written (and acted upon) but what I have done is put all my reference art books together on book shelves, I've loads of them on subjects as diverse as figure drawing, fantasy art, big cats, sex, erotic art, favourite artists, women in art, more sex, photography, sex positions, Australia, New Zealand, how to capture light in paintings, and more sex positions (well, it IS art, honest!!!!). As well as those I have a whole load of art magazines, gallery catalogues, and photo albums for reference subjects. I have files for various useful papers, and more notes on scraps of paper to be acted upon. And that's all before I get to the paints (watercolours, acrylics, oils, gouache), water pots, brushes (for watercolour and also oils/acrylics), palettes, and other collected accoutrement's of the active artist. And at the end of moving most of the things to slightly new positions, I have a whole load of something wonderful ........ Sigh! Yes, I have S P A C E !!!!! Loads and loads of it, to spread out in, to work in, to have freedom to fill with art and NOT CLUTTER! And I expect that when I get to use that space I'll produce better artwork because I'm not having to work around piles of papers and pots and brushes that I'm not currently using! So, yeh, its been a productive time!!

Yesterday the woman who commissioned the freebee Christmas card design back in June came to collect it. It was the first time she'd been to my house and we'd not met before. We got on well enough and as we chatted I showed her the Three kings design I'd done for her, which she was delighted with. So I was happy too! I had a few paintings stacked up in my studio, ready to go for exhibitions, and showed her a few of them so she could see what else I did, she knew I did pen and ink drawings but didn't know what else I do - and she said what most people say when they see my work - she commented on how diverse I was , and I agreed, I am! I only showed her the sexy large lips kissing I've just finished, a French village landscape, a Venetian night scape, a dramatic English Gothic landscape, some tigers in a snowstorm, a family of swans back lit under a tree, an old Cornish fishermans hut, a pair of fantasy unicorns in a woodland glade and an oil painting of an old country cottage with faces hidden within the flower garden (and that's only a SMALL amount of what I do, because I kept off the erotic stuff!). She was impressed with me and my artwork, and asked me how much I'd charge to paint her two children' s portraits. She said she'd discuss it with her husband and come back to me. So that was a good productive visit too! Yay!

Now.. where did I put my favourite paintbrush... and should I categorise all the art books alphabetically into fantasy/cats and SEX - nah, I haven't got one complete shelf long enough for the sex stuff!!! :)