Angry people of the internet

I wonder who they are, these randomly angry people who live on my screen. Over time I seem to have found a way to avoid them at source- the fountain of righteous fury.. I have two settings- the first absurdly tolerant and nurturing with a desperate need for understanding of even strangers' motivation and emotions, the second- angry headmistress. The point at which I switch isn't easy to predict but it's often when I'm challenged about my motives or rudely propositioned by someone with serious entitlement issues.

I'm sure I get more than my fair share of messages in uppercase lettering. Without the internet I'm sure I'd get red ink letters. But why? What is it these people get out of relentlessly hunting down things they don't like and getting themselves in a state about it?  I understand the need to see the other side of an argument. I watch documentaries about genocide, read articles about cruelty, listen to Pink Floyd or Justin Bieber songs. Not for fun but because I like to have knowledge about these things rather than turn away or not be able to an express an informed opinion.

Why though do people go out of their way to seek out political, religious or sexual subjects where perfectly rational lucid people discuss issues only ro ramble incoherently in capital letters. At least formulate a calm and reasoned argument, or frankly it looks ridiculous and lessens any valid point you might have. Don't stalk me on facebook waiting for me to post up a picture with a flash of nipple so you can report it, don't make new profiles with stock photos of shiny models so you can scream at me in capital letters, you're not going to change my mind on anything that way. Tell me calmly using whole sentences exactly what it is about my work which upsets you or why you think it makes me a bad person and I'll do my best to understand.

Then I'll tell you why you're wrong ;)

How to take your own photos for erotic art

  

I found it really hard to choose pictures for this post as generally the photos behind my work are unseen, I prefer them to be a mystery. I mainly work to commission and I wanted to share a post to help my female customers produce their own amazing images so they  really have a piece of artwork to be proud of. Not just that though- I'm happy for other artists to share this with their own potential models and for people to use this advice for their own photos however they like to use them. I'm sure the advice works the same for men, it's just that I prefer painting girls.

The original photo here was in a set used for some larger paintings but the painting had a detail which would mean it was unsuitable for viewing at work and I want this post to be acceptable for sharing. This one was used for a tiny collectible artwork seen here on the right

I hope this makes it clear that anything can be altered for the final image, colours can be changed and any details can be added or removed. I've been asked to leave out tattoos and piercings, increase bust size, take away inches on legs or belly, lengthen legs. Personally, I think you should go with whatever the good lord (or anything else) gave you but I'll do what it takes to produce an artwork you'll love.

I hope you can also see that I'm not a professional photographer, infact these were taken on a very basic compact camera before I even got my digital SLR. Anything you see in my paintings was produced from photos I took in my own house without professional models or lighting. You can do this as easily as I can and with just as much fun.

Here are the steps I take to get my images, why not try?

1 Self timer.

Arms length shots just don't work the same.

2 Research

Google image search something like erotic art or boudoir photography. If you've ever sent photos to someone over your phone- and you probably have if you're willing to send photos to me- notice the difference. Save pictures you like, find accessories and lingerie that you really love and have a really good idea of the image you want to produce. Try a few different things. You might be surprised what looks good

3 Find a buddy.

If you can, find an open minded girlfriend or gay best friend who doesn't fancy you. That's the easiest option, not the only one. If someone fancies you the session might get heated and you won't get so many pictures. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just less productive ;) It saves as much running about if you use a self timer and it's really good fun.

4 Free your mind.

Don't worry, these photos are yours and they'll stay yours. My commission work remains private and any pictures you send me will be destroyed. You can cut your face off any photos you send me, if you don't like something just tell me to leave it out. There are many stages before you commit to something and it's a fluid process in which we work together to make the best painting we can. Relax. Have a drink if you want to. Laugh, definitely. My best paintings are not from photo sessions where everything was deadly serious, believe me :)

5 Turn off the flash.

Most important, to me. Maybe it's just how I like my paintings to look, maybe you like it. I find it too stark and it's not the sensual look I like for my paintings. Lamps you've got around the house are just what you need, or if you're doing it in daytime, lit from a window at one side. Throw a coloured piece of material over the lamp if it's too bright, or plain muslin, great for diffusing light. Candlelight can be amazing. Set your camera to a low light setting.

6 Be comfortable.

Once you've done it a couple of times you might be ready to push the boundaries a bit. First time, put on something you love to wear, find the angle you look best at, play around with angles, setting the camera from above and looking up. Lounge on your bed, in your favourite chair, on the floor. There are no rules

It's over to you. All I can tell you is, I don't want to tell you what to wear or how to pose. When I have someone round, we look at photos and pick out a few they like, if they haven't brought something to wear or decided to be naked, we find something in my wardrobe. From then, it's putting on some music and drinking a few glasses of wine... anything can happen. The photos in my albums are all so different. Classy black and white nude, boudoir lingerie shots, fun cheeky sexy shots and the few where it all goes a bit wild.

Send me some photos if you like, any more tips you need just ask me. I can find some lovely erotic photoraphy sites for you to get inspiration from. Even if you don't want a painting- the next time you try to distract your lover in the office by sending them a picture it'll be one to remember ;)

Peachy!

I've been revisiting my pile of discarded/unfinished work. Some have been destroyed, I've even finished others. When I unwrapped this one I discovered a new love for it. I don't know why I didn't like it or what I thought it needed, it's sweet and dreamy. Hopefully somebody will feel the same and take it home.

Girls, help me out

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Criticism...

I can take it. Really, I'm good with it. I know my place in the scheme of things and I truly don't think I'm any better than I am.

I often call myself a painter rather than an artist. I think of what I do as a craft rather than art. I didn't paint for all those years because I didn't think I was ever going to be good enough to make a living. A big moment for me was when I did my foundation course and my tutors said that I should say I wasn't interested in money at my degree course interviews because taking fine art at university was tantamount to accepting a life of poverty. I didn't go- eventually the degree I went to was in theology and psychology.

I've always been interested in irrationality, the ways people fool themselves, contradictory and foolish belief systems. I have books on the Elvis faith, UFO religions as well as standard world religions. I'm an avid fortean. I'm interested in the prevailing world view shaped by the culture of entitlement we live in whereby the people in the richest nations of the world feel hard done by and everyone's "dream" is to be a vacuous celebrity.

I hope that explains more why I often try to debunk the porn industry illusions of the internet. It endlessly fascinates me. Reality is only disappointing when people have inflated expectations, and they so often do.

I digress, I went off on that tangent for a reason though. The reason I got back to painting wasn't because I suddenly thought I was great, but because trawling the internet made me realise that there is a market for ok paintings, even bad ones. I'm not aiming high, A lot of what I do is copying peoples' own photos, pets, kids, bottoms, I don't mind.

When I started doing this I aimed for the low/mid range, tried to develop a style that would take maybe ten hours per painting so I could price my work at the low end. They don't always work like that. Kimono took a whole week, I've others that took a couple of hours. I started doing ACEO pieces but really thay take me a couple of hours at least and I can't expect even minimum wage from those. I like doing them though.

I don't just do what the market likes, I'd rather work in tesco than copy swirly trees or quirky vintage girls with birds on their heads. I like them, I don't want to do them. A look on the what's selling page of the art sites would soon show me what to paint. Pretty badly in most cases. But I don't want to. I'll do it if I'm commissioned with money up front, but not by choice.

I'm getting there, I think I've lately become more confident in spending a bit longer on the paintings, I'd like a few that demonstrate what I can do at the best of my ability in between the decorative pieces.Who knows, I might get better. I don't know how good I'd be if I hadn't stopped for 15 years, I don't know how things will develop.

I see a lot of forum posts where people post up their work for a critique only to be given one and being outraged, and people selling work on ETSY hoping for £2000 for something one of my kids could produce with a box of poundland acrylics. I'm fine with people telling me my work could be better, I agree whole heartedly. There's some amazing work out there, work that deserve its price tag in the tens of thousands. I'm not asking for that, often I'm asking for enough money for a night down the pub, sometimes only for enough to buy myself a bottle of pink sparkly wine.

So it's fine, critique away. I'm fairly sure Brian Sewell isn't watching my blog ;)

Of muses and men

I'm dissatisfied today, it happens.

I was very interested in a forum discussion about muses yesterday. I don't think I can have one in the way it's generally perceived as I generally have no erotic interest in the subjects of my work, but it got me thinking about the difference it would make to what I do if I was involved with a man.

There has only been one man in my life in the time I've been in this specific field of art and I can honestly say he did have an effect on what I did. I enjoyed having a man to think about when I was creating the pictures. In the buying stage and the photographic stage I started to think about what he would find erotic and incorporate it.

It's fun having someone to run scenarios by and see if someone else likes it- someone who would be interested that is. If I was to call up my girlfriends and start describing a secretary bending over a desk or a girl reclining in lacy panties, they'd soon stop picking up the phone. Maybe it's better now I'm just doing what I like.

It'd be great to have someone to stand in front of a mirror with and see what works so I could do sketches for some more boy/girl paintings.

If you see me in the sex shop buying a big blow up man- he's for practise posing with. And to prop up looking out of my bedroom window to deter burglars like some people have them in a car.

That's a brilliant idea! (Brilliant ideas like that are probably why I'm single) ;) If you see this post it's just short of a miracle- I'll think better of it in ten minutes and delete it!

Different for girls

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Any ideas?

I'm totally stuck.

This started as an idea- originally I planned the standing figure to be holding the kneeling girl under the chin. I know what I mean but anyway- it didn't work!

Then I thought it should be a man, holding a crop behind his back. That didn't work either. This is only a sketch so far- I just want suggestions on what to do with the standing figure as it currently makes no sense. Maybe get rid of the standing girl altogether... what do you think??

Ok, I give in

I admit it. I can paint men. I just don't want to. These are drawings from life class in art college many years ago.  Acrylic on paper, no idea why I can't paint in acrylic now, guess I just got out of the habit.

I can't wait to get myself back into a life class. Because my models aren't professionals I take photos to work from. I can remember what it's like sitting still for all that time and I can't ask someone to do it for free, but just looking at these makes me remember what a different process it is to working from photos.

I just hope this time the models in the life class are female :)

[gallery]

Bad art..... Guilty!

I've just had the funniest hour of my life. Regretsy is genius, there's no denying it

And.... I'm on it. Oh yes I am.  A few posts down in the art section.  I don't have a photo of the painting so I can't even prove it.

When I'd seen regretsy before I'd actually wondered i they'd come across this most hideous article and they did. I didn't even bother disguising my contempt for it in the description.

It was a year ago, I'd had a really frustrating conversation with someone who told me I was never going to be successful until I started painting big pictures of cocks. Monumental cock pictures were where it's at, apparently. It was just after erotica 09 and I was really fed up with feeling that I had to appear sexually available to sell my work.

As it happens, I am sexually available but not to just anyone! I had one guy on facebook who just wouldn't leave it. No matter how polite I was he was articulate but really offensive and wouldn't accept that I wasn't interested in him and didn't want to answer any more of his questions.  at the same time I was trying to extricate myself from a doomed relationship and part of me just thought I should almost shed my skin, start again, leave the art behind.

Somewhere in my back catalogue I had a photo that had been taken for a laugh and I committed facebook suicide. I painted it on a blank canvas in 45 minutes and posted it up in art groups. The caption said something like "I've had enough, I'm committing facebook suicide- do your worst, report me!"

And they did.

And I bounced back with a better plan and now I don't get the amount of grief I used to. I got my marketing all wrong at the start.

And I still don't like painting men.

It goes back to what I was saying yesterday about what people find erotic. That's just why I did it, it's hilarious!

If I did I'd get myself on as a regretsy regular. I don't know if it's because I've got a funny sense of humour but I love my spot on there. And it sold my revolting painting! And I bought some wine.

Cheers! :D

Dressing up

I forget sometimes how full my dressing up box is. Wigs, hats, masks, feathers, shoes, lingerie, outfits. I love dressing up, I love dressing other people up. It's definitely time for another photo shoot. I have a few new lacy and shiny things which deserve some attention :)

Looking at dirty pictures

I don't use other photographers' work or copy other painters but sometimes when I'm working I think I need to change something, it's usually a facial expression or maybe the hands aren't quite right. At those times I put in an image search and I get lost for hours. It's something I tend to do really early in the morning. And I never keep to my brief. One erotic photography site leads to another, sex blogs, sites for women, sites for men, adult forums.

Sometimes I see things I wish I hadn't. I'm amazed the spectrum of sexual preferences out there. How UN"erotic" are some of the things which turn people on. We're a truly astonishing species. I'd love to elaborate- but I'll spare you the details...

sexy purple shoes

They're delicious! I painted them before but I made them pink so I painted them again on a smaller scale.

purple is sexy :)

Wine O'clock

new painting resting on my tattoo table. I'm still not sure if it's finished. I think I deserve a night off, some wine and a good nights sleep. Cheers :)

Apologising for the naked ladies everywhere...

[caption id="attachment_190" align="aligncenter" width="254" caption="Erotica 09 Painting by Daniel Stedman"][/caption]

It's so grey and rainy today, I've got all my daylight bulbs illuminating my work area and it's still so dark and grim I ust can't summon up the will to paint so I'm just going to write a bit about my life in the real world. Yesterday the man came to read the meter and put a card through the door saying he'd be back this morning.

Recently I rearranged my house so there's no route through straight to the back door and everyone has to come through my front room, kitchen, and studio to get there. There's no back gate and the meter is just outside the back door so short of hiding everything I'm doing and taking everything off the walls I'm about to deal with anything from confused embarrassment, wide eyed voyeuristic interest and a barrage of questions (see previous posts)

I rarely get a hard time from anyone who actually sees me and what I do in close proximity, the mystery is taken out of it. I'm clearly not painting in the nude, or a man pretending to be a girl so that's half the battle.

But maybe I sometimes do feel a bit apologetic about it. Contractors and salespeople are generally male so I don't get any real hostility or suspicion from these strangers who come into my house but I do have a sinking feeling when I know I'm going to have to say something. I wonder what this one will be like.

As you can see from my post photo today I'm pining because I'm not going to erotica at olympia this year. I'd have known so much better this year what to paint for that particular exhibition and I'm sad not to be going. I'd enjoy it so much more if I did it again. And I've never seen Dita Von Teese live, that would be so amazing. And the shopping, all those goodies I could use in my work. Shoes! Corsets, masks, feathers.... I'm sulking.

 

Desire

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Desire. 20 x 16" Oil on canvas"][/caption]

As you can see, it's still wet so it won't be on sale for a few weeks. Crimson takes ages to dry.  It's one of those paintings I'll have trouble parting with. It might accidentally get framed and hang on my wall for a while.

:)

 

Now for sale here

Girls

I made this up.  Just started drawing straight on the canvas. I went to my photos to reference the position of the second figure's leg.

Why are they both girls? Because I haven't got the first idea what men look like any more. I'd get one round to model but they're always trouble. Girls look good together in paintings.

I'll have to wait a few days til it's dry before I carry on, and I usually mess these ones up in the next layer so thet might be the last you see of it...

Decluttering

I've been dreaming strange dreams. I woke up really quite traumatised today. For some reason it really made me want to get up at stupid o clock and look through all my half finished paintings and make some hard decisions. Sometimes it makes me laugh to drive around and look for the kind of public bins or skips that people go to to look for free goodies and leave paintings there, just imagining the look on someone's face as they find an unexpected erotic painting.

Some paintings just never work out. I suppose they would if I persevered but if I fall out of love with them too soon I just have to give up. I can think of two I want to keep , I think it's really time to let go of the others. They take up so much space and they just make me feel guilty hanging around pleading with me to finish them.

I've said this a lot of times though- I may now get all my canvases out, look at them and put them away again. I need someone to do it for me so I can't get sentimental!

[gallery]

Time for some colour

[caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="231" caption="Sacrifice 12 x16 oil on board"][/caption]

I don't know when I gave up on colour. I've go all these half finished paintings I really need to get out of the way but my head is full of colour. I've got some ideas and some new paintbrushes, just gotta be brave and escape the grey!

I was going to wear that lip service nun dress to a party in a few weeks but I can't make it so I've given it the attention it deserves by painting it. With those zips it's a bit dangerous to take out...

 

Now for sale here

getting a bloke in

I don't know why I'm puting off new photo sessions since I got my new camera. I have new props, two fantastic new outfits and still I can't seem to commit to actually geting some new photos taken.

I've been making some sweet decorative little pieces on small canvases which I'll list on etsy soon as they're dry but what I really need is a new studio session. I was thinking yesterday about trying to get men involved again. My photo sessions with men have been unsuccessful, for different reasons. Mainly because I just don't seem to know what to do with them. When I'm posing girls it's easy, I'm projecting myself through them.

It's like lingerie, girls have got endless options, guys look silly in anything but the most basic stuff, or they look great- but gay.  Same with posing them for photos or drawing. I can put them into basic life class poses but giving them the same look I give my girls is just so wrong. Funny, but wrong.

Men in my work are best used as accessories. They come with a partner who I direct around him and what happens to him in the photo session is just perfect for my work. The trouble has been that the couples have been self conscious and not believable. Girls who give me great erotic photos when they're here alone stiffen up with a man there. Strange but true.

I have a friend who does a bit of cage fighting, I thought about going along and taking pics there. Men all angry and sweaty and not wearing much. It might give me a better idea of what to do with men without feminising them and to make them a more active part of the process.

Maybe I should get a naked man of my own instead of borrowing other peoples, but they're so much nicer when you can give them back ;)