Cherry: Natural Beauty Series

The inspiration and motivation

Anyone that knows me well will recognise that I’m full of ideas, amongst other things. However, most of these ideas never see the light of day, never move from my cluttered creative mind to the screen and never get brought to life and hung on the wall. I’m very conscious of this and feel frustrated that many of my ideas get “lost” in the clouds of thoughts that live in my subconscious mind.

So, since moving into my purpose built workspace (in a spare bedroom), I tired to set my mind to auto pilot, tried to let go of the self-imposed restrictions, such as “its 12:30 at night don’t be daft I’m not making any artwork now as I need to sleep” and “there’s a new series on Netflix that I have to watch”. In addition, I set myself a task, a realistic one, one which was measurable and achievable, not a total fantasy which I would never be able to complete. Then I simply got on with it.

The task was to select a series of my own photographs and create a series of prints that I could hand embellished. The work needed to have a theme, each piece needed to have a common link (either using the same colours or same images) and each one should have an underlying story (either obvious or hidden and personal). Thus, Cherry was born.

Each piece of phot-art has a soft vibrant mix of colours which is not only pleasing to the eye but has a deep underlying story to tell, each of which is different for everybody that takes the time to loose themselves in the mesmerising eyes the natural beauty all around us that we take for granted.

The Photo-art

Cherry 1 was the first piece, and although its great, I think that Cherry 4 and 5 are absolutely stunning (and I don’t often say that about my own work). The first piece helped me form the idea and the concept for the series, it helped me select the photographs I wanted to use and pushed me towards a group of colours and style of artwork that I really enjoy creating.

Cherry 1- the start of my journey linking nature and the amazing natural beauty of all women

Cherry 1

The journey begins

Cherry 2 saw a different approach to the artwork, whilst Cherry 1 was all about the flowers and the emergence from a deep long cold winter, Cherry 2 celebrates the smooth curves and purity of the female figure combined with the scent of the tree blossom.

This piece was made specifically with a classical look using a model with a sensual pose that fits in with the beauty of the tree blossom photo that I blended into this piece. The aim was to apply faux gold leaf to the white circle and to the fabric being held by the model. I again used the same colour overlay that was used in the first image to ensure there was a common colour theme as well as using the same blossom flowers and tree photos.

Overall Cherry 2 was a move towards the sensual nature of women and the exotic eye catching impact the first tree blossom of spring has on our sences.

Cherry 2 – moving towards a more sensual image

Cherry 2

Worship Me

Cherry 3 moved me a few steps back towards my bright garish complex composites and included additional elements sourced from Pixelsquid After many hours battling with my urges to depart from the smooth soft stylings I was starting to adopt in the previous image. There were numerous changes of direction in this piece which screamed at me to turned into a mermaid in an underwater scene, so after some reflection i found a way to remain on track with the use of Cherry blossom and colouring, but in a more subtle way once I realised what I was trying to tell myself. Cherry 3 was also were I started using the Natural Beaty description and added names to each image and Cherry 2 because “Worship Me” with Cherry 3 being christened “Curious Dreams”.

I was trying to tell myself was to trust my unrestricted imagination, just let go and let the artwork take its own form. In the same way that dreams do manifest themselves if your creative subconscious will help you bring your vision to life. In short I was trying to answer a question that had been buzzing around my head for a few days “Think about what makes you you, what makes you stand out from the billions of other humans on this planet of endless possibilities”. I have my answer now and we all need to ask ourselves the same question. The only advice I can give is don’t let the words of your conscious mind drown out what your creative mind is trying share with you. Your conscious mind shouts and scream at you, because you let it, your creative mind whispers and caresses your senses. You choose who you listen too and live with the outcome.

So as you can see Cherry 3 “Curious Dreams” was a stepping stone for me in many ways, but I have my answer and I have now also got another piece of meaningful artwork printed and hung on my wall.

Cherry 3 – a break though moment for me

Cherry 3

Curious Dreams

The next piece in my Cherry Natural Beauty series is, “Cast Your Spell” (Cherry 4).

This took a slightly darker turn for very personal reasons but retained the mix of femininity matched with the natural beauty of the early spring blossom. This piece is best summed up as follows.

The early flourish of spring flowers and their vibrant colour is soon brushed away by March winds and April showers. Making space for the new lush green foliage to unfold from its resting place and create a canopy of shade for us from the harsh summer sun. Spring flowers are beautiful but short lived. Live everyday like a spring bloom, be bright, vibrant, and cast your spell on the world even when darkness surrounds you.

Packed full of personal emotions and created as an outlet for both my creative mind and my currently too vocal conscious mind.

Cherry 4 – a personal release

Cherry 4

Cast Your Spell

“Revealing my true self” (Cherry 5) should have completed this series. However, I still feel the need to continue this journey which has turned into one of self exploration as I feel that there are more gentle whispers niggling in my mind fuelled by nature and the eternal mind of the self.

This piece was inspired by these words that came to me whilst wandering aimlessly with the camera.

Casting off the frills and fancy blossom to reveal my true natural beauty for all to see, the blossom tree.

In addition to this there are multiple messages hidden in this image including the awe I feel watching nature tease us with a short fix of stunning blooms and then showing us the true beauty of its creation and how it thrives and grows strong without the needs for further adornments.

For this piece I tried to create some movement to show the transition from blossom to branch and leaf.

Cherry 5 – this should have been the end

Cherry 5

Revealing My True Self

Thank you

If you got this far thank you for taking the time to read my rambling story about this series of images, Im realy grateful for your time and hope to see you back here again when I add more photo-art to this series.

Image Sources

All the model images where purchased via Shutterstock.

The Cherry blosom and Trees are original photographs by the artist.

Additional images were inclued in “Curious Dreams” and these were sourced from Pixelsquid.

Some pre made textures from Envarto Elements were used to create the backgrounds.

The brushstrokes were created via Topaz Studio 2.

Purchasing Copies of the Artwork

Prints, framed prints and hand embellished framed artwork will be made available in my shop over the next few weeks.