Dreamy

Yerbury Fine Art Nude Masterclass

ERWhittington 6 Comments

I’m just back from a very enjoyable shoot with a photographer and his wife, a couple I’ve visited quite a few times now and love to see. We did some really nice un-posed and natural, expressive nudes (inspired by Jonvelle) in their beautiful house, and it seems a fitting time to now blog about a recent day spent with another husband and wife team.

I love working with Trevor and Faye Yerbury – they produce such beautiful, classy work and are lots of fun to model for, so I was happy to be chosen to model for one of their Fine Art Nude Masterclasses the other day. As always, the photographers taking the course were all a pleasure to meet and seemed to enjoy themselves very much, snapping away with big smiles all round! The location was Pipewell Hall, an old country manor house in Northamptonshire. I was mainly stationed indoors with Faye, making the most of the building’s incredible features and furnishings, while the other model, Zoi, spent the day outdoors in the grounds with Trevor. It was really nice to meet Zoi after we’d tried but failed to meet up in Holland (where she is based most of the time, though she frequently visits the UK still) and we had a good natter over lunch. 🙂 We made a good contrast as photographic subjects; Zoi with her beautiful Greek/’Amazonian’ look and me with a more ‘pre-Raphaelite’/serene style (well, that’s what Trevor said anyway!).

See here for more info on the range of workshops currently on offer by the Yerbury team: http://www.yerburystudio.com/

A few of the photographers attending have very kindly sent me some of their shots from the day. It’s interesting to see some of the different takes on the same poses. I was really happy to give my first airing to my new pointe shoes (ribbons to be sewn on very soon; old ones to be dyed black!) and although I’d only mentioned to Faye in passing that I’d brought them along while she was doing my hair at the beginning of the day, ‘ballet’ ended up being quite a strong theme for my posing, with lots of happy skirt swirling in front of the window. 🙂

These first shots are by Andrea (Pink Lily Photography) – read Andrea’s blog post about the day here:

By Maria Tanner (Lace Market Photography – see Maria’s blog post here!):

By Ian Parry AKA Maximus Operandi:

And last but not least, by Faye:

Zoi and I posing together outside at the end (first shot here by Ian Parry; colour snaps by Faye)

Trevor overseeing all:

 And a group shot (Zoi and I being silly in the middle)! 🙂

Thanks again to everyone who has sent me shots – it’s much appreciated! And to anyone reading, please feel free to let me know any favourites… Your feedback is always fun to read! 🙂
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In other news, I’ve recently re-jiggled by portfolio on Model Mayhem (click here to go there) – trying to organise it so that, by clicking on the relevant galleries, photographers who are less interested in nudes can see my fashion/commercial/editorial work all in one place without having to wade through all the more artistic shots, while photographers interested in figure work primarily don’t have to wade through shots of me grinning and running blissfully along beaches in sportswear… Wonder if it works well like that as a way to show versatility without having them all mixed up and it looking too eclectic – why not pop over and take a gander?

Trees and Bicycles!

ERWhittington 12 Comments

I was booked recently to work with MaxOperandi and his friend Jules, on the grounds of Ian’s friend’s incredible country house. Despite Jules’ already accomplished portfolio, this was her first introduction to nude figure work and we worked exclusively with natural light (the weather was beautiful!! No shivering necessary!) and reflectors. I think these are some fantastic natural images, and along with Ian’s vintage bicycle (I also spent time up in a tree house, standing in a water feature and balancing in branches, which left me with bad scratches which miraculously disappeared somehow the next day!), there is a very ‘darling buds of May’ feel to this sunny set, which I love! I always wanted to be Mariette. 🙂

 (There is a serious waist-hip ratio going on above; I wasn’t sure if it was flattering at first, but I decided I like it. :-))

Let me know if you have a favourite!

Veils

ERWhittington 1 Comment

Hello!

The busyness continues and I’ve had some brilliant shoots recently at Eye for An Image Studio, with my partner in crime Ivory Flame, the results of which have been popping up in various places, much to our excitement! I’ll hopefully show lots of those shots soon, and also have roughly 11 million shots queueing up anyway to be blogged, which I can’t wait to display here. I’m also hoping to be back at the studio for a day sometime this summer. Brilliantly, I have now managed to work out how to exit the (thoroughly straightforward) car park (at the business park where the studio’s located) without first driving endlessly around in circles. I am such a total idiot. Especially as once I managed to go out the way I had initially come in (genius! And only once rescued and guided by Martyn Davis, the studio owner, who after saying our goodbyes found my confident veering off in the 100% wrong direction a little odd), I then tried to drive the wrong way down a one-way road. All still without having left the business park (thankfully; no one else was around to particularly inflict my idiocy on). There are no words for how ridiculous I am.

Shaking our heads and moving on… Tomorrow I’m off to Dublin for three nights for some outdoor landscape nudes – pleeeeeaaase can the weather stay this good? Today I tore myself away from admin/packing/general guilt and apologies for being behind on emails (as much I try, and trust me, I really do, I am never quite on top of things) to go for lunch at an Oxfordshire pub by the river, watching the punts go by…. bliss!

These four shots were taken by Stephen Phillips at Barrie Spence‘s studio in Livingston during my tour to Scotland earlier this month. Editor-in-Chielf of Parasitology and Partick Thistle Supporter, Stephen has led a very interesting life so far, contributing to the research of diseases such as malaria, and was very nervous before our shoot, he said, but I think these shots are lovely!

Tulips and Me!

ERWhittington 2 Comments

OK, supposed to be going out now and running late – I am so busy at the moment, and recent shoots have involved being up tree houses, riding a vintage sit-up-and-beg bicycle, posing in water, being a bride (today!), balancing in trees… I’m definitely feeling at the upper limit of my comfortable level of modelling busyness at the moment, with hardly a day off, but you’ll notice I remain a blogging addict. There are so many beautiful shots coming in my inbox – I love it! But yeah, I’m keeping this post briefer than planned.

On the way to my shoot with Jan Doef in Holland, my jaw dropped at these daffodil fields and Jan kindly suggested we pull over so I could take some photos! Sooooooooo beautiful!!! I’d never seen anything like this before.

Tulips:

Me:

 

I think Jan did a brilliant job on the black and white figure nudes in particular – luscious smooth lighting!

Over and out for now!

Fairy Paintings

ERWhittington 3 Comments

I was booked recently at Paul’s Studio by an artist wishing to begin a project he’d had in his mind for a while. Philip Malpass will be painting 4-6 large canvasses by sometime next year, from which prints will be made available through a new site devoted to fairy art. Meanwhile he is making a series of minipanels which will eventually be sold via small galleries. I feel very lucky and happy to have been chosen for this project, and think the two panels below (digital files won’t do them justice, I’m told and can well believe, but nevermind) are absolutely stunning! So magical!

Although Philip has been painting all his life, he has had a six year break until recently, so this project is hugely exciting for him and a creative release! We had a lot of fun in the studio, with me interpreting ‘fairyness’ by way of flitting and jumping, perching and skitting about as though flying and journeying between flowers and trees… 🙂 (I love how my job allows me to indulge myself in utter, utter girliness sometimes.)

As they are completed I hope to be able to show more. Phil tells me that painting with oils on such tiny canvasses (5″ by 5″) is a real challenge, but I think they must look so wonderful and special!

Here’s a file to give an idea of two of the minipanels created so far. I can’t wait to see and show more as they are painted! (You can click the image to make it slightly bigger, but remember, the intention is that it’s a small work of art!)

How beautiful!!

Portraits, Box, Stripes and Lightning

ERWhittington 5 Comments
Tonight, a massive medley from the marvellous Eric Kellerman!
First, a test shot in (well, mostly out of by then) Eric’s robe, plus some portraity things: 

The infamous box – an honour to step in this small, equilateral theatre.

A beautiful bodyscape that seems to have slipped through the net of my previous post ‘Strength in the Dark’. Hip bone glory:

Then some joyful striping around. I love this effect – so amazing, especially when in the mix with some curly stray locks lolling around in front of flesh and playing shadow games.

(I think I manage to look a bit ‘eighties’, skeptical and sulky all at once in a few of those stripy portraits above. Brilliant!)

Thanks Eric! …And as always, if any of you readers have particular favourites, etc., do let me know! I always love to hear from you.
…So yeah, I know it’s totally inappropriate, but something about the stripes (and the fact that this particular fancy dress theme came up in conversation this evening when out with some friends) is making me want to leave you with some images from 2007 taken on a university pub crawl… We were the coolest kids in Nottingham that night, let me tell you. (There were seven of us and our feet were tied together for the majority of the night. Tricky manoeuvres all round.)

Hello Bowie friends, if any of you are reading this!

The Spirit

ERWhittington 9 Comments

Desiderata — written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s —

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul. 
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

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