The Eighty Second Doodle - Ladies & Beasts

 The Ladies & The Beasts Series

The Lady & The Raven

I've had a few questions and comments about my newest series of paintings 'The Ladies & The Beasts', so I thought I'd write up here in my blog to answer a few of those questions! Also, it's a nice way of putting down in words why I paint what I paint.

My work is constantly inspired by strong women, 'cause lets face it - we're super badass. We have marvellous shapes and features and hair, all the things I love to paint. So when I first began painting these ladies with different types of animals and birds, even I wondered where exactly in my head they'd come from.

The women I paint are, firstly, not 'perfect' airbrushed model types. They have bumps. They have lumps. They have tummies. They often have fierce, not typically beautiful features. But that is perfect- because it's what we all are in reality. And we're awesome. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I reckon, and everyone is beautiful to somebody else out there. And that is totally awesome too.

The Lady & The Fox

So I suppose you could say that my ladies are Renaissance ladies - ever looked at those paintings from the 15th or 16th century by the likes of Botticelli or Titian? They are curvy, they have real shape, there is often an aspect of nature in the composition. I've simply added a few extra modern things- a slice of ruggedness, a streak of alternative attitude, a dose of colourdy hair (colourdy aint no word, but meh!) to make these ladies true, 21st century badass goddesses. They are Amazonians, they are natures' warrior ladies. They are feminine and lovely but they are tough.

The Lady & The Wolf

In regard to the other aspects of my paintings, I've had a few people ask me if the animals are meant to be 'clothing' or 'accessories'; the simple answer to that is no. The animals are in fact a part of the women- their positions are often intwining, protective. Of course, I like to leave people to decide for themselves what they see in my work, but for me the animal or bird represents the soul, the personality of the woman. Sometimes they act as guardians, such as in The Lady & The Owl (see below- I'd bloody love having a wise old owl looking out for me), sometimes they are more shielding as with The Lady & The Fox.

But when it comes down to it, you can see what you like. My paintings can mean whatever you'd like them to in your own little head- they can represent something, or they can just be an image of a lady with an animal. Simple as that. You can relate to the women I paint, you can see an attitude you recognise, you can like the colours.

At the end of the day, I hope people enjoy looking at my work and perhaps see a little thing that means something just to them. So, enjoy.

The Amazonian

The Native American 

The Lady & The Owl

The Lady & The Arctic Wolf

The Lady & The Swan

The Eighty First Doodle

Sometimes you just need to have a good ol' painting sesh. With some recent work I've been creating I've been taking photos all the way through of the various stages, which is actually really interesting. It's quite nice to look back at how you built up a painting; all the various layers and shading techniques that you use, perhaps without even noticing!

 

Here's the finished painting of my Native American inspired lady, done using watercolours and inks :) 

The Eightieth Doodle

 

 I am not a fashionable person. I know right, you are shocked. 'But you are so super trendy Ruth,' I hear you cry, well you can stop that weeping right now. I'm not. I just wear stuff I like, often stuff that 'aint cool.

That doesn't mean I don't like fashion though; I am fascinated by clothing design, structure and influence. Fashion illustration is a large portion of what I do, whether it be quite simple images of mainstream styles or slightly more off the wall alternative get ups. I love it all. Drawing the folds and drapes of fabric, how the light plays over it, how the form underneath affects it - HEAVEN.

I created the image above for Amelia's Magazine, a site all about fashion, art, music, design and basically anything rad. You can see it featured on the site here along with a write up about the Raw Talent University of the Arts Graduate Fashion Show - a good read for anyone interested in up and coming talent!