I’m a landscape painter and I also paint 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! For me, erotic art is normal. And I sometimes forget that to others it’s all a bit, well, different, so I’ll explain a bit about myself…..
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, 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 do surreal, abstract, fantasy, as well as representational art. 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 love to open my mind up to new ideas, and thrive on it. I love to create.
I love to stimulate my brain by the way I paint, and give myself a challenge and I like to stimulate the viewers brain by what I’ve created. Art isn’t always about painting what’s in front of you; it can be about painting what you can’t see sometimes! A camera will faithfully reproduce the image in front of it but as an artist I want to look beyond that and ascertain what can be removed from the image and still leave the essence of the subject, and hopefully add to it by the process.
Life drawing is very exacting, just getting the right tiny detail in place makes a vast difference to the finished image.
I love the tricks that add interest and excitement to a picture, and therefore excite the brain. 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 (for example in my erotic landscapes), and I love hiding the subject matter within my art too – like in the set of erotic feminine abstracts that I have painted that just look 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, Canada 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. 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. I did the painting for her, and developed the “Living Flame” pictures through it. 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 love the fact that one painting might lead on to another one because of one aspect that evolves into another and so on. And I have no idea what that will lead on to. And perhaps that’s part of the fun for me, that I know I can paint anything for anyone, it’s just finding the subject matter for them. The art flows on. I love that aspect.
And I like to hide messages within my art too – for example when I was asked to do a painting for a couple from London of a particular village in Southern France that they had visited many times, 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.
I love painting life and the interesting aspects of it.
I adore painting big cats, and tigers in particular, because they epitomise everything I delight in – bright colour, dramatic markings, and the lovely feline way of peaceful softness followed by unexpected powerful fury. And I also enjoy creating mythological creatures like mermaids, and unicorns.
I love to paint people’s desires, whether it’s to see their house, pet or children created in artwork, or if it’s to paint a fantasy of themselves, their image of what they want to be, and how they want the world to view them.
I feel that what makes a drawing an erotic one is the addition perhaps, of an object, an item of clothing, a hint of something unsaid, a subtle insinuation, all of which adds interest to a picture and takes it out of the ordinary.
My models like to pose for me because I enhance the attributes of the parts of their bodies they’re happy with, and reduce the parts they’re not! And I’ve done some sexy bedroom pictures for people, because it’s always good to have private and personal erotic images of yourself in your own personal gallery!
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. 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? 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.
The pour-on technique adds interest as the basis of watercolours because there is only a basic control of where the paint will end up and different colours and differing heaviness of paints will always react in unexpected and delightfully spontaneous ways that can never be replicated or controlled by human hand or brush. The hardest part is to leave it untouched after the paint has been applied, so it can weave its own magic unhindered, and leave bright clear lines and colour because it’s dried naturally. Then the question is which parts to remove, which will add to the image, and enhance it, and to build the painting up from those decisions. I like the challenge of it, and love the bits of serendipity that make the painting more exciting, because I’ve not controlled it, but have been able to utilise it to my advantage. It’s very exciting! And as far as watercolour is concerned, splatter adds the interest of movement and optical mixing on the paper.
I’m passionate about lost and found edges in both my drawings and paintings, as they add interest and excitement for the viewer’s eye.
The white on black images are interesting because it’s just picking up small details, the light on selected parts of the human body, and not all the details need to be added, the viewer knows what should be there even if they don’t exist on paper. They are basically pure light or pure darkness, very simplistic but far more interesting because of it, only the light illuminating the body is portrayed on the paper – the rest of the body in shadow is ignored. The emphasis is on the minimum of detail and lost and found edges create the unison between the figure and the background. The least possible information creates more interest to the eyes. Not every line needs to be drawn on the page to make an interesting pictorial image. Creative lighting creates more dramatic pictures. Shadows cross over light, light crosses over darkness.
I love the buttery feel of oils, and the way that the paint strongly enhances any subject matter.
I also like trying different medias, and happily use watercolour, oils or pencil but sometimes I like to turn to different techniques in acrylics, inks, pastels or mixed media as it opens the mind and sometimes creates a different way of tackling a subject. If I need a particular shade of colour or texture that can’t be replicated in watercolour, then I’ll try something else.
I’ve always loved surreal art and am inspired by artists who make me think or who give me a different way of viewing things. I am most inspired by Caravaggio for his dramatic use of light and deep darks. And I also love the work of Dali, Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta, Josephine Wall and Jim Warren.
Art is such a big subject, and there’s so much to learn from different aspects of it and I love it as an ever-changing subject. But I think I’ve honed my skills now and I’m happy with the way I paint and there are always different things that are always inspiring me to paint and that’s why I don’t just paint one subject – I’d get stilted and bored easily if I do. I love figures, felines and also a dramatic landscape. I can admire a well-executed painting of another artist’s still life, but it doesn’t move me – I’ll only ever look at it and think, “That’s a vase of flowers”. I like to paint pictures that make people think, as I’ve had the thought process to be motivated to paint it in the first place. I ask myself why I’m interested in it, it might just be the interplay of light, or a particular shade of turquoise that I love and want to emulate, or a title that comes to me as a good idea to explore, or the interaction between human beings, or a particular scene that inspires me to want to capture the moment infront of me. It’s all of these things but basically because I just love the passion of painting and drawing.
I’ve always been a studio painter rather than an outdoor painter but then the subject matter I cover might be gleaned from various sources, and if it’s from photographic material, its most easiest to use infront of me in my studio. And of course if I’m using a model for the figure drawings I have to have a warm room and be able to control the light so it will be artificial and angled accordingly for the best effect. But, wherever it is, the art will always be better if I can hear some music – something with a good beat to get the artistic juices moving!
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 deep emotion in their voices. Someone I drew with a lack of confidence says I’m good therapy because I wanted to draw her as 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.