Seeing red

Last week when I saw my usual model I had a basic idea for a painting but after trying a couple of poses in watercolour I decided I wasn't at all happy at the outcome for various reasons, it just wasn't working and the colours and tones were far too weak. I wanted to do a long vertical red painting and tried the model in various tall poses but they just didn't work somehow. Mmmm...... rethink. And this week I realised that I'd been going about it the wrong way and I'd be better doing a long horizontal painting instead! Yay! Far better! And to get the stronger colour I was after I changed the medium to acrylics as they are far more vibrant and get a better result far quicker and more assuredly than watercolours. Success! I also decided to paint the whole background in a rich scarlet to start with which instantly gave me my mid tones and then all I needed to do was pick out the lights in the painting and add the darks and it was complete. The composition was something that came to me with one of those instants of brilliance too. So I got the model to lie on a long sofa, with a table lamp to the side of her, highlighting her breasts and long shapely legs, and painted the composition as it was. Since the light and her arm nearest to it were the lightest parts of the painting, I captured those first, letting the rest of her body fade towards the darkness at the other end of the painting. To add interest to the sofa I put golds and purples in with the cushions surrounding the model and am really delighted with the result of it! It works beautifully as a composition, I love the colours of it, the rich vibrant reds, and the paler tones of the womans skin. Her pose is at ease, elegant and alluring. She's confident in herself and delights in being admired in her rich setting. I think it's sensual, erotic and graceful. And the title of this painting? Well, it could have been a number of titles, but I've settled on "Lady with the lamp". And I know I've done a good painting because I keep wanting to look at it! And that's always a good sign!!

Pretentious twaddle

I'm going to say something and I'll try hard really really hard not to use any swear words to tell you......... but I'm gonna be really struggling with this, so bear with me..........


Lots of people give me things that they think may be of interest to me, especially if it's to do with art, and this morning was no exception, as I was given a pamphlet about an art exhibition for a group of artists. I'm always interested to read about other exhibitions, even though I rarely buy art (because I'm in the business of selling it!) and I flicked through it with half interested attention until I read one of the phrases in it and instantly went into *rant* mode! WHAT THE FUCK????!!!! ..........(Told you I wouldn't be able to tell you without swearing!!!) - Well, I'll tell you what it was and you tell me what you think, cos I know what I think about it!!! The pamphlet was about the exhibition and gave a few brief details about the artists exhibiting then said:


"Placed in the company of the others, each body of work affects the viewing experience of the next, while retroactively changing the memory of the preceding one"


Yeh? Well, what a surprise! Of course it does! Anything would! That's how the brain works!!!! WHATEVER you look at affects what you next look at and is affected by what you JUST looked at - whether its baked beans on a supermarket shelf, guys in a bar, flowers in the desert, clouds in the sky or questions in an exam. But to use this as a selling phrase for an exhibition of paintings seems to be stating the bleeding obvious to me (you see, I'm swearing again!). Of course viewing one painting will affect the viewing experience of the next, that's what images DO, no matter WHAT the image is of. We all do it, all day, all the time!

This rant and my thoughts on it has reminded me of two separate conversations I had over the weekend, one late at night in the pub and one with other artists (and not the erotic lot I was with on Sunday) and it seems to me that I just don't understand the bollocks (you see, more swearing!!) that surrounds modern art. Why does a piece of artwork need to be explained? Why does it have to have "intellectual" artyspeak to describe it? Why can't it stand up on its own with out having to be propped up by fancy words? It seems quite easy to me, if its a piece of art it should be self explanatory. And it can evoke emotions in others one way or another (and it doesn't always have to be in a positive way) and it should speak to the viewer, and the viewer should be able to tell that some sort of artistic talent has gone into painting it (not that a child of three, an elephant, or someone just out to rip off other people, has produced it). I don't mind looking at a painting of a blue box on a red background so long as I feel that that image is created by an artist. I don't like every realistically painted painting I see, I don't like every old masterpiece I see, and I love some modern art, but I want to feel that I LIKE the painting because I can relate to it, not because someone has TOLD me its good. We're back to the "Emperors new clothes" aspect of art again. Its the only way I can describe it! (Whoops, I almost swore again!!!!).


Right, I'm off to paint a picture, and something that's NOT white spots on a white background!!!!!


And if you want to you can tell me how the painting on the left "speaks" to you, and what deep emotions it evokes. And after that I'll tell you that its part of the painting on the right, and I bet you get a different emotion from THAT one!!!

A gathering of eroticness

Since I joined the Guild of Erotic Artists in October last year I've not had chance to go to any of their "Event" days but yesterday I was able to change that state of affairs! I've only met a very few of the members briefly at the Erotica show at Olympia in London last November so it was good to go to the Beaumont Hall Studios in Hertfordshire and meet some more of them and compare notes on erotic art and life in general! I know it can be daunting walking through the door of somewhere when you don't know anyone, and have never been there before, but everyone I spoke to had a ready smile, made good eye-contact and made me very welcome. I felt quite at home, helped of course by the fact that there were tasty sausage sandwiches and endless hot cups of tea! I was able to spend time chatting and getting to know people and put faces and names together. I know when I've joined art organisations before, part of the "getting to know you" aspect is also learning who does what sort of art and learning their particular styles and techniques. In some cases I can instantly recognise a painting I've never seen before, just because I recognise the style of the artwork of the artist, as individual as someones handwriting!

Everyone I spoke to was down to earth, helpful and full of good advice on selling, promotion, producing art and techniques for creating art. There were models there as well as artists and photographers and sculptors. A couple of the guys there had some of their artwork in portfolios and I must admit I had a smile to myself when one of them asked me "Would you like to see my etchings?" - normally that's a euphemism for a man trying to seduce a woman, but in this case, he just wanted to show me his erotic etchings and talk about the art! How refreshing!

Most of the time I was there I spent the time chatting to a photographer and found him delightful company! He's been in the guild for a bit longer than me and was more than happy to discuss his photographic art and there were some interesting comparisons to my work, even though he's a photographer and I'm an artist. We had a similar outlook on catching the light in our art and determining what we considered to be "erotic" within art. I know there is no definitive definition of what makes "erotic" but he and I seemed to be in agreement of what we basically agreed it to be...... that frisson of subtle interest that makes you wonder what's going to happen next....MMMmmmmm!! And we also compared notes on who had the easier technique for capturing the "moment" - as far as I'm concerned I think that photographers have a more difficult time as they only have a split second to capture the "instant" of the erotic image, whereas an artist can change whatever they want to make the image more "interesting" by changing the composition, the lighting, the colours, and the focal point. But, interestingly he thought artists had the worse time of it, because then they had to spend hours creating that one image that he could capture in as many "split seconds" as he wanted. Mmm.... an interesting and thought provoking comparison! We also discussed which sex had the easier time of it as a producer of erotic art. I think it must be easier for men than women to work in the business, because as a woman I think it's more difficult and you might be opening yourself up to undesirable attentions from men who might perhaps think that you're offering more than just art. Whereas my photographer friend thought it was a lot easier for women painting erotic art as they wouldn't be viewed as "perverts" whereas maybe an older man photographing younger women would be! Ok, that's got me thinking too! Maybe he's got a point!

Later on I had the opportunity to talk to one of the models there. She's more mature than some of the other models, and it was refreshing to hear her down to earth views on body shape and being comfortable within your own skin rather than worrying over your body shape because it's less than perfect (than the photos that appear in glossy magazines when all the blemishes have been airbrushed out if it anyway!). I think a lot of men prefer women who are comfortable with their bodies and happy within themselves. Although I equally know that doesn't stop women searching for the perfect shape and wanting to improve on what nature has given them!

So, all in all a good, positive and productive day. I'm looking forward to my next visit!