A bit of a mish mash...

I am SOOO excited about tonight's premiere of 'Desperate Romantics' on BBC2! I seriously can't wait! I have been a HUGE Pre-Raphaelite fan ever since I was little and have always wanted to see some kind of drama about these sexy dreamy artists from the Victorian era! The programme is being dubbed as sex drugs and paints, and focuses on the three main members of the PRB group all of who had pretty unconventional love lives including prostitutes, other men's wives and one very outrageous exhumation of a beloved wife! I love their work and my favourite artist from the movement is Dante Gabriel Rossetti! I love him! ( BTW he's the dark swarthy one second from the left above ).

Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Verticordia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

It has often been my thought that the models seen in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites were the pin up girls of their day. They were sexy and provocative, a little bit on the naughty side and a million miles away from the stuffy conventions of the time. They were in essence the dream girls of the nubile minded Victorian man. I can imagine them gracing the garage walls of many a carriage repair crew.

I so hope this drama does my guys justice and doesn't play around with the facts too much. I'll find out tonight!
Desperate Romantics 9pm BBC 2

Nautical update:
I am very excited about the new purchases I made from ebay last week! I have decided to customise my own frames for my new nautical watercolour paintings and want to include little bits of the paintings narrative into the frame. I found some gorgeous little wooden ships wheel buttons and some miniture gold anchors.

I'm now on the look out for old frames of the correct dimensions to customise with pearls and shells. I am also hoping to use my new skill of applying metal leaf to give some of the frames gold and silver details! You can see my first attempt at this material on my painting Parfait Amour:

I'm hoping to get some new images of what I've been working on up next week!

Tart anyone?...

You can now see some of my other work in a brand new online exhibition at The Tart Gallery on Second Life! The collaborative show of international artists is called 'Burlesque' and had it's official opening last night. One of my pieces 'After Eight' sold seven times! It's well worth the visit to see beautiful work by some very talanted artists! But remember you must be a member to walk around: www.secondlife.com

Good read!

I'm also really happy to share I was listed as a great read by fellow blogger Erin of Follow the Tide!

Thanks very much Erin! In the same spirit of things I highly recommend her blog which features great images and thoughtful musings by an inquisitive 1940's loving nautical mind!

Stay tuned for my top blogs! I'm fast running out of typing time... until next time ***

Viva the pin-up!

Image taken from Nautical but nice at myspace.com/nauticalbutnice

During my recent travels through the internet looking at all things naval, nautical and tattoo themed I've happened upon a couple of saucy little numbers I'd like to share with you:

Firstly Viva Van Story, a website of girlie photography by Miss Van Story, a genius with an eye for the pin-up style. Her models include Masumi Max and Jamie Deadly and the timless images she creates range from 'smouldering seduction to coquettish playfulness'.
I love her work as it embodies the classic retro pin-up with a kinky twist. Many of her models have tattoos and a penchant for latex, but none of the images are gratuitous.

Image taken from vivaspinups.com

My second offering is the website that is 'Nautical but Nice the premier purveyor of the nautical and aeronautical pin-up'
I stumbled upon this when looking up nose art on world war two bombers (a distant cousin of vintage sailor pin-up art) What can I say? A website dedicated to sexy maritime pin-up style photos. The girls pose on 40's bomber style planes and mid century yachts and sailing ships in a range of cute nautical accessories. A full five stars from me!

My own designs for my series of nautical pin-ups based on sailor style tattoos is going well, but I have to admit to making things difficult for myself by over complicating the images. I am over thinking them. I guess it's because I'm used to spending hours at a time painting a single image instead of simply drawing. I'll keep you posted as how things go...