Face2Face Lesbians Art Project and Lesbian Visibility

Three years ago, on April 25th 2021, I began my Face2Face (Non-binary Genderfluid) Lesbians artwork project, when I decided to put together two cardboard street artworks I'd created for #sothebyssundaysketch to make a third, for Lesbian Visibility Week 2021. 

When I put the two muses together, I imagined the narrative that this was the day these two lesbians met, and their story has inspired me to create artworks about them ever since. It's still an on-going, lifelong, art project of mine. 

Years prior to this project, I was already looking to create an art series on one theme, after seeing some fantastic series in art history. So when I felt I could create an ongoing narrative with these artworks and combine it with highlighting the serious lack of lesbian representation in art, I chose these artworks as a basis for my series and project. We always say visibility is key yet I barely ever see myself, as a demicis, genderfluid lesbian. 

It started quite by accident, as I experimented with clipping the two together after completing my 2nd sketch, initially titled 'Picasso Meets Street Art 2', building on the previous week's 'Picasso Meets Street Art 1'. They were rather similar portraits because they were both drawn for the Sotheby's Sunday Sketch who requested Picasso inspired doodles and muses, two weeks on the trot. At the time, Sotheby's were doing a weekly call for art and I built on their collage suggestion while deciding to add in a colour scheme inspired by Picasso's blue and pink periods. 💙💗 The original title for this Art Series was simply: 'Face2Face Lesbians'. I later added 'Non-binary Genderfluid' in brackets in case the pink and blue colour scheme made viewers assume it symbolises the trans flag 🏳️‍⚧️ so meaning it only depicts lesbians who are trans, which I hadn't intended. My artistic intention is for all sapphics of all gender expressions and identities to feel they can relate to this art series and feel more included and visible in society and the art world.

My Artwork Celebrating the 50 Year Anniversary of Pride UK

 

Here in the UK we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pride UK today, which first took place on the 1st of July 1972. So I've created this artwork to mark this anniversary, titled 'Face2Face (Non-binary Genderfluid) Lesbians: Marching Together - Remembering and Celebrating Pride UK 50 Years'. I've depicted them participating in the anniversary Pride March taking place tomorrow, 2nd July 2022, walking amongst the pride placards in the parade. 

Their shirt collars are coloured in the lesbian and non-binary flags. They are sharing the flags between them, across their respective collars: the left collar of the lesbian on the left has the upper colours of the fully inclusive lesbian flag on it (3 oranges to white) which matches up with the left collar of her wife on the right, which has the rest of stripes in that flag on it (white through to 3 pinks, ending with a purple-looking darker shade of pink). The same is true of their right-hand side collars: the right-hand side one on the lesbian on the left has the yellow and white of the non-binary flag, which is completed with the purple and black stripes on the right-hand side collar on her wife on the right. 

They are wearing a progress rainbow flag tie, which incorporates the brown and black stripes representing BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnicities) / POC (people of colour) / indigenous people within the LGBTQIAPD+ community; the feathers are the Two-Spirit symbol (Native American) which explicitly represents LGBTQIAPD+ indigenous peoples; light blue, light pink and white representing the trans community and I've included the intersex flag by placing their purple circle on the rainbow flag's yellow background, which is a very similar shade of yellow as the background colour on the intersex flag. 

On their lavender shirts, they are wearing LGBTQIAPD+ pride badges and stickers: the Jewish LGBT+ rainbow flag; the demiwoman flag (pink and grey) with the demiwoman symbol on it (like the ♀️but with half a bar across) and the womanflux symbol on it (like the ♀️ but with two angled bars off the circle); the demifluidflux flag just above the genderfluid symbol 🌊; and the pangender flag (pale yellow, pinks and a white stripe) with the pangender symbol on it, to raise awareness of some lesser-known LGBTQIAPD+ identities that are relevant to my Face2Face art series and my own gender identities. 

Here's a close-up of the badges and stickers on their shirts:

I've designed all their attire, the placards and the typography fonts myself.

This artwork is the result of my research during Pride Month last month into LGBTQIAPD+ history and the history of Pride UK, which has informed my symbolism, design, colour schemes and composition. The placards are based on those actually carried during Pride UK marches. The ones in thick black ink on white cardboard have famous slogans from the 70's and the 80's. Their colour scheme is black and white to evoke the black and white photography of Pride UK marches in history and to generally give the earlier marches a more historical feel. The placards depicting the Pride marches/parades in the latter 20th century (eg the adoption, age of consent and army ban sign) and 21st century (eg L with the T sign, gay marriage, ban conversion therapy, say gay signs) are in colour, to reflect changes in photography, making the signs brighter and stronger coloured as photos became clearer and more vivid with the rising popularity of digital photography. 

Here's a close-up of the top section of the artwork, where you can see the placards from different decades in more detail:

I'll be back to discuss this in more detail later! 🙂🖼️ 

Drawing Day 2022

Drawing Day (May 16th every year) is a great time to celebrate and appreciate all artists, illustrators and designers. Although it's easy to take for granted, the work of drawing-based artists is all around you every time you buy a card, see a designed product, an illustrated book, fashion illustrations, advertising, and web design. It's about known, unknown, past, present and future artists in galleries, on social media, in the street e.g. murals and street art. 

Drawing is the basis of all art, rather like ballet is foundational to all other forms of dance. Both drawing and ballet provide techniques and approaches which underpin everything we do in art and dance. Nevertheless, there are of course some differences. For instance, I find that drawing is also a way of thinking and making artistic decisions. Drawing can form part of the final artwork even if it's in a different medium, either by combining it with other materials or by using it as a base sketch before overlaying it with another (e.g. by painting over it). Drawing is vital to keeping sketchbooks so it is an essential part of the daily artistic process. Sketching can also be done as an exercise to develop your visual and hand skills, such as completing one-minute sketches. 

Most artwork I undertake starts with an idea (especially if it's a conceptual artwork) followed by sketching where, on the sketchbook page, I'll roughly draw the composition, objects and what I'm trying to convey. Then I sketch it more fully in pencil. I may do several versions or simply develop the one main sketch. I'll assess from the fuller sketchbook drawing what materials (e.g. oil paints, acrylic paints, watercolours, pastels, street art pens, gel pens, coloured pencils etc) I want or will work best for my final piece. I decide on this together with selecting what I'm going to do the artwork on, e.g. canvas, sketching paper, cartridge paper, oil pastel paper, canvas paper, watercolour paper, and so on. If it is not a conceptual artwork, then I'll still think through the shapes, spaces, composition, angles, and so on through sketching it out with a soft pencil. This will either develop into a loose-style sketch, or a detailed drawing, or the basis for an artwork in a different medium e.g. pastels, paints. Sometimes I'll do various drawings on large, self-standing sheets of cartridge paper after my sketchbook work but before the final piece, as a way of developing my project and it's themes, as well as experimenting with different materials, formats and dimensions/sizes. 

Another way I sometimes work is to sketch my ideas, objects and composition straight onto the surface I'm using for the final piece. For instance, for my Silencing series, I do rough sketches straight onto the canvas, adjusting this until I settle on a final composition that expresses and symbolises my conceptual artwork before applying acrylic paint over my pencil drawing. 

As part of celebrating Drawing Day today, I've dropped another artwork in my Face2Face (non-binary genderfluid) Lesbians Series on Drawing Day (16th May). The subtitle for this one is: 'IDAHOBIT:  Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights':

Tomorrow (17th) is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, Transphobia (and any other phobia against anyone in the LGBTQIAPD2S+ community) 🌈. So I've combined these two days in this drawing. Here they are talking to each other and comforting each other about their experience of lesbophobia and genderphobia. Their shawls are in grey for genderflux, the tassels of which are in the inclusive lesbian flag colours. This is reflected in the lesbian flag picture on their calendar, on which they have marked out IDAHOBIT on May 17th. On their shawls they also have the non-binary flag (higher up), and the genderfluid flag (lower down).

I've left it in my sketchbook to emphasise the role of drawing on Drawing Day. I've emphasised the drawing by keeping the shawl in pencil which draws the eye to the middle of the composition ie their bodies, which links with the IDAHOBIT theme for this year: 'Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights'.

My Face2Face Non-binary Genderfluid Lesbians Series One Year On

April 25th is the anniversary of when the two lesbians in my Face2Face Non-binary Genderfluid Lesbians Series met. I had drawn two doodle sketches on newspaper and wrapping paper, in the style of Picasso, when it occured to me that I could clip the two separate artworks together to make a third, in which the two lesbians meet each other. 

Now, a year on, I have shown them celebrating the anniversary of their first meeting and falling in love 'at first sight'. Although this art series is one year on, it depicts them celebrating their first meeting in a timeless way, without restricting it to a particular amount of years later after they met. The subtitle of this artwork is - 'Anniversary: Love at First Sight and Every Sight'. 

The single rose on the table 🌹symbolises love at first sight, while the flowers in the bouquet in the vase symbolise: soulmate and true love (red tulips) and there are 24 of them to say 'I'm Yours'; dahlias which symbolise lasting bond and commitment; red camellias for passion, true love and deep desire.

Above the fireplace is a golden framed mirror which, although it reflects them across the room, actually depicts their first meeting so is a miniature of the artwork I released a year ago. 

It is set in a room which has Georgian-inspired interior design. While planning out my drawing, I researched the Georgian period to deepen my knowledge of this era, especially LGBT+ history in and around this time, as well as what is distinctive about Georgian interior decor. I chose peach for the room colour because it is a colour favoured by Georgian design and is, I think, warmer than the other shades of that period, such as pea green. It's also a champagne-like shade which fits the celebratory mood. I added an orangy tone to it to allude to the lesbian flag and the gender expansiveness colour symbolism within it. The tea set is inspired by looking at various period Georgian tea sets. I noticed that their sets were less tall and upright than we use today, and did not yet include the typical tea stand. 

This week, starting today, is Lesbian Visibility Week (with Lesbian Visibility Day on Tuesday). So I included an original portrait of the Ladies of Llangollen (Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby) who wore a red gemstone around their necks. So I reflected this by adding a red garnet stone in the modern lesbian couple's heart-shaped silver necklaces. Garnet stones symbolise love, the heart, sustaining bond, life force and sexual attraction. The grey/silver colour of their necklaces and shawls, as in previous artworks in this series, symbolises genderfluidity.

Georgian design is very symmetrical which is why there are two lamps on either side of the fireplace. While above the fireplace is a mirror which is a drawing of the two meeting for the first time and falling in love. They are reflected on the left page twice: one, the two celebrating the anniversary of their first meeting, two, above the couple and parallel to the mirror image are the two famous Georgian era lesbians, Ponsonby and Butler, in their top hats. Both that picture and the mirror are gold framed. Ponsonby and Butler are included in this artwork because they fit the era and show that lesbians have been around a long time, going right back to Sappho, and have led lives they wanted to irrespective of society's norms, expectations, prejudices and family bigotry. Anne Lister, inspired by these two, is a wonderful example of a lesbian being true to herself leading the life she wants to, an authentic life.

I started thinking out my composition by sketching my ideas into my street art sketchbook and experimenting with how to capture the intricacy of the ornate plasterwork. I started sketching in pencil, then added coloured pencil and created a gold leaf effect with my Posca street art pen. Although I originally thought it would only be a planning sketch, I found myself filling in details (the panelling, fireplace, chairs and coffee table, curtains, ornate plasterwork, portraits, bookcase, table  tea set, flooring) and then it just took off! It ended up feeling very complete and I like the way the coloured pencils create soft hues and effects on the sketching paper. I think it gives it a romantic tonal quality which I don't think coloured pencil on cardboard would have captured as successfully for this artwork. I decided against marker pens for the modern lesbians because it would have been too strong a contrast with the rest of the sketch and thus might over-focus the eye on one part of the artwork rather than leading the viewer's eye all around the page. 

At first, the composition was only the page on the right but then I expanded it to the page on the left and found I liked the perspective of the room between the two pages. The page on the left feels as though it is slightly more forward than the one on the right. So I decided to keep it in the sketchbook to retain the same perspective and because I thought it was apt: this drawing just took shape spontaneously, just as falling in love at first sight simply happens spontaneously.  

Politics in Art during LGBT+ History Month

Happy LGBT+ History Month ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤💙💖🤍💜💛 to all members of the LGBTQIAPD2S+ community! To mark the 50th Anniversary of Pride March in the UK, this year's theme is Politics in Art: The Arc is Long.  

#biodiversityday : the Flower Mantis

 

This is an ink drawing I created last weekend, inspired by Biodiversity Day Saturday 22nd May. This insect is called a Flower Mantis because it has the appearance of a flower, making it extraordinarily beautiful. I chose it mainly because it is so colourful and has unusual wings. I drew it from life, as it were, because it is an insect specimen I have in my collection at home so I was able to observe it in front of me as I sketched it. It is labelled as a Flower Mantis, found in Vietnam, and looks somewhat stretched out because it is preserved in a cube which fits into an accompanying display box. Whereas in the wild, it would be seen standing on all fours or standing tall and upright, fanning its wings if it felt alarmed. In this drawing, you see the legs and arms fully, rather than just a hint of them underneath the insect. Here's the original specimen. 

The colours haven't quite come out true to life in this photo 📷 because I haven't used a conventional camera so it's harder to get the focal length for sharpness right and the lighting right for the shades of colours. For instance, the brown parts of the wings, underneath the pinkish bits are brown not pink tinted. So my drawing is more accurate than the photo above of the specimen.

I used very similar materials to the previous week's Japanese Hakata doll - green tinted calligraphy paper, liquid Indian ink, liquid coloured inks and bamboo pens. However, this subject matter is even more intricate so I also used some attachable ink pen nibs although I discovered that the bamboo pens were more user-friendly, especially for the black outlines.

I've scaled up the Flower Mantis while trying to keep to the same proportions because it is tiny in real life - I'd have to draw a miniature with a needle to make small enough marks! Mind you, I did paint a miniature Self-Portrait last year with a biro cap! Anyway, here I have sketched the mantis in the style of a zoological illustration/ink drawing, making it completely realistic to life, other than it being larger, so that the viewer feels as though they have met the insect and knows what it looks like. Part of the value of this style of drawing is that it documents and records animal species for future generations, which is especially important if they become endangered or extinct later on. 

This Flower Mantis wasn't easy to proportion in line with the original. I used a small ruler to give me a sense of scale and dimension, plotted out a rough guide in pencil before drawing it freehand in permanent ink. The medium of ink doesn't leave any room for error because you can't rub it out or adjust it then or later. So it's a medium which needs uninterrupted focus and concentration. And it's not just about the marks you do want to draw, it's also about the accidental smudges that you don't want - followed by an exclamation of "oh noooooo!" 😯 The thought of having to start again is enough to give me a meltdown! 😩 Luckily I managed to cut off one big finger ink smudge at the top with my scissors ✂, so the dimensions of the page for my final artwork are somewhat unconventional. 😏 Next time I go to my bug collection to draw an insect, I may go about it differently. 🤔🎨🖼 I think I'll go back to the same process and nibs I used the previous week for the Japanese Hakata doll, but remembering that the lines are proportionally thicker for the bugs because it's a smaller drawing. Hence on the doll, the lines look thinner than on the insect, even though both are identical lines. 😒 

The Mantis is an interesting order of insect, but that's a biological point which I will discuss on my environment blog: 

https://wildlifegardensandtheenvironment.blogspot.com

National Drawing Day

 

Today is National Drawing Day (16th May) and #SothebysSundaySketch's theme is Japanese art, with an example of a portrait of a Japanese woman. I combined the two and drew my Hakata doll ceramic ornament (made in Japan) with bamboo pens in inks on light green tinted calligraphy paper. 

I wanted to create a print effect because the Sotheby's picture was a woodblock print. So I began my ink drawing by using a thin bamboo pen dipped in Indian Ink, which is often used in printmaking. Once I'd finished the entire drawing, I added the red ink with a thicker nibbed bamboo pen, followed by the green, gold then finishing with the white ink to shine out against the light green paper. The gold ink glistens ❇ as the viewer looks at it from different angles because it is a metallic type of ink. It was very precise work which needed a lot of focus and concentration, especially since I wanted to create strong lines and blocks of colour to give it a print effect, rather than creating looser, freer marks. It is a representational drawing of the ornament, I haven't adapted her, her clothing or her hair in any way, in order to retain her strong cultural heritage. I chose an angle where she is glancing over her shoulder in a similar way to the Sotheby's picture. This angle also depicts the sense of movement and gesture she has in the ornament's pose.