Portraiture and Botox

When I went to art school many years ago, well before the advance of digital media, a popular medium for life drawing and portraiture was the use of pencil and charcoal. Pencil work, particularly involving very fine detail became a speciality for me, and I developed a sort of 'photographic' style. Not loved by my tutors I hasten to add, as a more bold, dynamic and more contemporary approach was generally favoured at the time. I didn't care.

Anyway, though I don't do so much of it now, particularly life drawing and nude studies (too much of it at art school made me hate it), I had been asked recently by someone if I would be interested in a portrait commision, using pencil in a detailed and fine art style. However, when I said I might be, and that I may need to do some studies first and take some photos etc, my subject then said, to my amazement, that she may want to have some Botox filling in done. I thought initially that she was joking, and to my dismay, she wasn't.

I tried to point out why this was not a good idea. My argument was such. Botox carries with it a recognisable signature. It distorts and interferes with the dynamic of the face, and also changes the texture and patina of the skin. I myself can spot even a skillfully Botoxed face a mile away. This may be due to being an artist and because for so many years, study of physiognamy was very important to me, and still is.

She wasn't convinced, and I realised that what she wanted was not in fact a portrait in the traditional sense that would capture an impression of self, but a photographic representation (why she didn't just get a photographic portrait done I don't know). I then told her that I could do a piece digitally using a photograph of her face, and do a 'paint over' with my Wacom (tablet and stylus), and that she needn't go to the extreme of having her face injected. She said she would 'think it over'.

I thought a lot about this. I know in Hollywood there is a backlash against the use of Botox as it intereferes with an actors ability to deliver facial 'nuance'. But, it also bothered me that this woman felt the need to undergo what in my opinion is still a pretty radical and untested (in the sense that there is as yet no evidence of potential side effects from long term use, as it it still so new) procedure just because she wanted to look good for a drawing!!!

Strange world!

UK Handmade Autumn Issue

Very belated pimpage as I should have done this about two weeks ago, don't know my arse from my elbow at the moment. Very remiss of me particularly when it features my interview with the lovely Katherine Trigg of Vintage Kit.

So, here it is..it's fab. Go read the Autumn Issue of UKHandmade Magazine.

Featurettes!

I have been a lucky girl lately. I have been featured in three Blogs.

Firstly, the lovely and talented girls at Wychbury (Paula and Lesley)  included my Autumn Leaves print in their gorgeous Blog. Thank you very much to them. They are themselves very talented makers and I suggest you go and check out their lovely flowers in their Etsy Shop.

Next, Belinda who runs ShophandmadeUK was a guest Blogger on Cuteable and very kindly included my Mint Julip print in her feature. Thank you so much Belinda. xx

Last but not least, the lovely and taltented Karen Jinks aka Kala, featured one of my line drawings on Khadi paper on the UK Handmade Blog. Thank you very much sweety.

Free Aceo Print Offer!

For one day only I am offering a Free Aceo Print Offer in my Etsy Shop.
Just include Blog  in the message to seller, and I will refund the cost of the second Aceo print through Paypal.

Not a bad deal huh!

Illusio Creative is Six Years old today..

Yep, six years ago I built Illusio Creative, not my first website however but definately one of the most enduring and a favourite. Anyway, I am amazed that time has gone so fast. So, to celebrate, last night I gave it a bit of a make over. Lighter, white winter coat.  I think this makes it V5.2.

Illusio now on Trunkt

A very good start to my day today, was this. I submitted a portfolio to Trunkt yesterday, didn't think much about it and found this morning I had been accepted. I am very pleased indeed, particularly in view of the fact that it can be quite tough to get accepted, and it cheered me up no end, heralding a good week.

I have elected to go for a premium account (cos I want lots and lots of my piccy's on my portfolio), and am very excited. I really hope this will make a difference to my current profile and networking, and get my art out to a wider audience.

Here is my portfolio widget, quite nifty huh? Please take the time reader to go look at my profile.

Go see...

ETA - 28th October::
I have been updating my Trunkt portfolio over the last week and I now have some views and thoughts. It's not as easy as it would initially seem. If you have taken a look at Trunkt and at individual portfolios', you will notice that Trunkt uses a natty mosiac feature of differing dimesions to display images. Also, members can showcase other members work much like Etsy, and if a showcase appears on the front page, it is also as a random mosiac display. Now then, Trunkt likes artwork to be submitted to a dimension of 300px X 311px, for which they provide a nifty cropping feature which is very handy. However, one of the things I have found is that there is a lot more to creating an elegant and viewable portfolio on Trunkt than just gaily uploading images and and centering them. I discovered that images with white space around them were 1) not very attractive and 2) less likely to be picked for a showcase. Luckily for me, when I discovered this I had not uploaded lots of material. Which is a good thing, as Trunkt though will allow you to edit all the information pertaining to a listing (and by the way, each one has to be approved first), you can not edit the image. What you have to do is delete the original submission and start again. So, a wee bit a of learning curve on this one, but I feel I am getting there. New Trunktists, take note!

Sales + Finished Art + New Shop + Nice Things!

Sales and New Art:
Well, originally this post was to showcase some new work, talk about sales, new shop..nice things in the post. However, one of the new pieces I was to show here...has sold! Yay...to a nice lady in Brazil, many thanks to her. You know the lovely thing about this sale as well? The person who bought my illustration registered with Etsy as a new buyer specifically to do so. That gives me a very happy feeling.

So, with no further ado, here is a selection of some recent work.

This is acrylic paint, ink, pigment ink, silver paint on
vintage Bloxworth watercolour paper. It measures 9x7 1/2" or 24x17 1/2cm.

Sepia pigment liner on handmade Khadi paper.

Sepia pigment liner on handmade Khadi paper.

Sepia pigment liner on handmade Khadi paper.
This has been sold.

New Shop: Illusio on Misi
Well, despite that it is my intention to put a lot more time into my own shop on Zen cart (finding time is a factor as with everthing in my life), I decided I might give one of the UK selling venues a chance. I did run a shop on Folksy a year ago, being fairly dissatisfied with it, subsequently closed the shop. I opened accounts with both Misi and Coriandr a while ago, though had not listed any products. So, I decided that given my lack of sales lately on Etsy, I would try one of the UK contenders. I did some research on both, checked their Google ranking and their Alexa, and decided to go with Misi. Reasons being, traffic and visits to Misi were way more than Coriandr, and sites linking to it, and its rating was better. So, we shall see. I quite like the look of it, though found navigating around the user interface a bit convoluted, and would like to see a link to the 'member area' (where one does all the listing, customisation etc) actually on my store page. Other than that, quite happy with it and have listed a couple of prints. Go see Illusio on Misi

Nice things in the post!
About two or three weeks ago, I bought an Aceo from Mandarin Moon on Etsy, this in fact, Abstract Blue Wave Aceo. Myself and Chris were beginning to think it had been lost in the post, yet lo and behold it arrived this morning. I am chuffed to bits, it is gorgeous and as fab as I hoped it would be, and I cannot wait to get a lovely box frame for it. Thank you Chris. Do go and check out her shop, she makes the most beautiful art from Polymer clay. I have to say I haven't seen anything quite like it!

So that's it. Rather a good week, following a crappy one. Tis the way of things after all..

Written in the third person..

For a while now I have noticed a trend on artist's websites for the bio or personal statement to be written in the third person. Why is this? Why do artists feel the need to do so, when it is so obviously their own website, created and maintained by themselves?

For the most part when I come across an artist's website and starting reading a bio/personal statement composed in this litery style, I click away as fast as a got there.

Why? Becuase it comes across as pompous and affected. This writing style has always called derision upon itself. Caesar himself when wrting his 'Gallic Wars' was critisicised and ridiculed for writing in this style and accused of arrogance and pomposity.

A Human Resources director I know when handed a CV which contained a personal statement written this way, asked if the CV has been composed by someone else. 'No, I wrote it myself' the intervee replied. To which the HRD asked them in that case, why they had elected to write something that sounded as if it had been written by someones else...he then posed the view that it sounded 'very silly'.

Enough said.

WIPS + Unfinished

I posted these on my Facebook page, but if you don't go there...then you wont have seen them, will ya? No..

So anyway, just thought I would do a quickie post about some current WIPS. If you don't know what a WIP is, then perhaps I should blat you with a wet fish!

This is acrylic and ink on A5 watercolour paper.
Quite pleased with it so far, and have made more progress
on it since I took this shot. There is more detail than can be
seen here. Inspired by my waves, water and sea.

Acrylic on 10x10 deep edged canvas.
This was originaly an entry for a competition,
but I didn't get it finished on time.
It's part of the Tidal series, as its a theme
I want to expore more.

Ink and micron pigment markers on A4, almost finished.
Part of my biologic series.

Ink and pigment markers on A4. Quite like, may finish..sometime.

I started in 1993 and abandoned when I slipped a disc in my
neck which resulted in damage to the ulna nerve in my right arm.
I had to stop drawing for quite a long time and put it away.
I found it recently and have added to it a little. It's very typical
of the sort of very tight stippling and cross hatching I did at the time.
I did a bit of work on it recently,and am still trying to decide whether
to finish it, as it's not really where I am now.

Ink and Faber Castell pencils on A4.
Not quite sure where I am going to take this yet.

Acrylic on 10x10 deep edges canvas.
Not sure how I will take this, as I have sort of changed my
mind on how I want it to look. May experiment.

Features + New Shelves

First of all, I am very flatterd to have been featured in two Blogs recently.

The first is by someone who found my work on a recent Etsy treasury. Her name is Kat Wauters and is the creator of H20 works. She was very kind to feature one of my prints called 'Tidal' in her 'New Discoveries' entry. I was very interested in her Blog as she takes part in and promotes a scheme called 'Aceo - X', which is an Aceo exchange scheme I may sign up for. For more information on that, then read THIS entry. Here is a screenshot of the Blog feature.

Secondly, I have been featured by a good friend, Alix aka Big Blue Bed. No, I don't know why that is her username, never thought to ask. Perhaps I should. She is very deedy and clever indeed crafty wise and makes some lovely items, in particular 'Dorset Buttons'. Check out her shop, Big Blue Bed, you will love her Girls Own Anual theme. Here is a screen shot of the feature.

Last but not least, as prosiac as it may seem, I was terribly excited to have got new shelves for the study/studio or 'working room' as my daughter calls it. It has been getting more and crowded and unmanageable in there, so I went to B&Q and got some sturdy Ketter shelves for £22. Not pretty, not stylish, but do the trick. Still need more room though! I have included a screen shot as I rarely post pictures of my working space.