Jackie Adshead - Where my life and art are intertwined

Blog

Christmas cheer at this time of year

Christmas cheer at this time of year

Christmas is always a potent mixure of emotions for the majority of us I think.

There is expectant happiness and shining excitement, but with a feeling of underlying sadness.  Although perhaps the sadness is more so because its the opposite of how we’re supposed to feel.

I love to receive Christmas cards from friends, old and new, their good wishes and chatty news of the year always welcome. But I feel a poignancy when a name is missing. I don’t expect the world to stay the same, but  remember the names that have been on past cards that are not there now….. my parents, uncles and aunts, grandparents, friends and family………

 

The picture here is a painting I did a few months ago. I know its not a Christmas tree, but I think its apt for the message I want to convey. The painting is called “Tree of dreams” and for me shows the love, hopes and desires for the future we all hold within us. Desires for things we want, people we need, and the dreamy memories of times past as well.

Tree of dreams (2)

Christmas is the time for food, and celebration, for sharing and for love.

So, I wish you all those things, however you celebrate your Christmas.

But the thing I wish you most of all, is to be happy with those you love. And raise a glass to those who can’t be with you, for whatever reason.

Happy Christmas!

I've been an artist all of my life, and my paintings now hang on walls in Europe, USA and Canada. I'm working on getting them on the other continents! My wide range of artwork has been exhibited nearer to home in the East Midlands, with the Guild of Erotic Artists at Beaumont Hall Studios in Hertfordshire, and at "Erotica", Olympia, London. I have also been featured alongside my work in the Guild of Erotic Artists book (volume 2). I love to create dramatic interest in my pictures, whether it’s to paint an unusual landscape, or just to utilise dramatic lighting in my figure drawings or strong colour in my animal portraits. Delighting in the spontaneous tendencies of watercolour adds an interesting and distinctive look to my paintings, some of which are purposefully ambiguous, enabling the viewer to use their own interpretation of my artwork. I also love to hide images, and humour within my paintings, whether it’s a secret message, or an erotic couple hidden within a landscape, or even an erotic landscape where the couple are camouflaged as the features of the land itself. I am equally happy painting in oils, acrylics or watercolours and love to draw with pencil or ink. I have also developed the very effective method of drawing using white pencil on black card which creates dramatic pictures by just picking out where the light catches the body and leaving the rest of the image to the imagination, in darkness. I can also utilise many different styles, whether it is realistic, abstract, surrealistic, erotic, fantasy or camouflage art where something is hidden within the painting. I'm just passionate about my art, whatever I paint! But, it doesn't matter how many landscapes or pet portraits I paint, its always the erotic stuff that people are interested in! I started blogging to share some of the strange conversations I have with the people I meet. But its evolved into far more than that now.