nancy farmer . net

Welcome to my Gallery

Belligerent demons, sullen fairies, twisted fairytales and other curious monsters - dark, whimsical, decadent contemporary art, all with a satirical edge and a twist of humour.

November 21st

We're having a Christmas Art Fair at the weekend: 27th - 29th November, in my home village of Moorlynch (in Somerset, UK), plus there's a preview on the 26th November, where mulled wine etc. will be served. Free entry, all welcome. For more information please see my Future Exhibitions page.

November 18th

New Work: The Department of Dangerous and Unusual Canapés: visitors to my Facebook page and the Glastonbury exhibition in July will already have seen these paintings, but to everyone else, I appologise for being so dilatory! The last of this group of paintings was finished in March of this year, and I kept them off the website so that I had something brand new to show in the summer. After that they somehow got forgotten and never made it onto the site. So, finally, here are the girls from the Department of Dangerous and Unusual Canapés. Click the thumbnails or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

For news & updates, you can now join my Facebook page:

November 13th

New small stuff: I have been adding to my stock of smaller pieces, in time for the exhibition I have in Bath (plus a few other events - see my Future Exhibitions page). I have just added them to the website as well, though while the exhibition is on I will probably disable the shopping cart buttons for these items, so as to avoid confusion. Click the thumbnails or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

Oct 23rd

Original art on Ebay: I have listed more life drawings on Ebay - these will probably continue for a while, so check back for more!
And on a completely different subject: I shall be at the London Alternative Market in Clapham on November 1st, with my dolls cards, callendars and other things... See my exhibitions page for that and other exhibitions / market events I have coming up - there are several all before Christmas.

September 20th

Calendars for 2010 - I have put the Calendars page back up, with new callendars for 2010. There are 3 different ones this year, and though only one strictly belongs on this site I have put the other two up in the interests of having everything in one place. There's a calendar with my paintings in it, and two naughtier ones - a new one from the Fornicating Fairies site, and a re-run of the Dolls one (this last one has the same pictures as last year, but the others are brand new).

September 2nd

Latest News: There is to be a replacement event run by London Alternative Market, to replace the cancelled London Xpo on 3rd 4th October. I have booked space. Details as soon as I have confirmation.

September 2nd

New painting: The Frog Gimp. One cannot predict the tastes of princesses. This one, for instance, finds princes very boring and prefers frogs.
Click the thumbnail or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things. Also see the entry below for some step-by-step pictures.

August 18th

Work in Progress on Facebook: I am currently posting photographs of my latest painting on Facebook - click the thumbnail to go there.
Also: I'm sorry to say that the London Xpo, that was to run in October, has been canceled. This is an event that I had on my exhibitions page for the last couple of months, as I was planning on exhibition there. I may have news soon of an exhibition in London in May of next year, though - more of that when it's booked and definite.

July 31st

More illustrations for Murky Depths: These were simply fun to do, very gothic-horror kind of setting, and, though I'm not giving away the plot, the observant amongst you will notice a kind of werewolfy theme to the pictures. Something of a first for me, I think - can't recall ever having done a werewolf picture before.
If you want to read the story, which is called 'Is this My Last Testament?' written by Juliet E. McKenna, you'll have to buy a copy of Murky Depths # 9 - available for sale now from the Murky Depths website.

July 23rd

Stain Devils: these are really more demons in coasters, like the gold lot, but these have a different story, and come complete with a fine selection of ready-made tea, coffee, and wine stains, so you don't have to spill your drinks on your actual furniture.
Click the thumbnail or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

July 22nd

Two new exhibitions / events: I've just booked an exhibition in Bath in November, and a stall at Bridgwater Arts Centre's Street Party on Sunday 16th August, in Bridgwater, Somerset, UK. More details when I get a moment to put them up on the exhibitions page, but for the moment you can also read a few details in the Events list on my Facebook Page here (look down the left hand side of the page).

June 27th

I've just finished a new painting: 'Fishnets'. Mermaids in Fishnet Stockings - just the one each, of course! Click the thumbnail to see it, or visit my new work page to see all the new things.
There seems to be a bit of a run on mermaids, and it's just possible that the next painting will involve a mermaid, too, though before that I have an exhibition to be doing, so there will be a bit of a break from new paintings. There will be a few paintings there that haven't yet made it to this site, too.
The Exhibition is in Gallery Eight, Glastonbury, UK, 14th - 26th July. It's called 'Sirens in Stockings' (for which the new painting is clearly highly appropriate) and it's a joint effort with Charlotte Thomson. For more information please visit my Future Exhibitions page.

June 20th

New painting: 'A Romantic Picnic, Spoiled by Mermaids'. This was done to fit in with the general theme of 'Messing About on the River'. The picture is off to the 303 Gallery, in Martock (Somerset, UK), if you know it. They have no website but there are some more details at the bottom of my Exhibitions page. Click the thumbnail to see it, or visit my new work page to see all the new things.

June 16th

More original stuff on Ebay: I'm continuing to list a few life-drawings on Ebay, and yesterday I also put up a couple of button badges. These are a bit more special than most badges as they each have a little drawing on them all nicely protected by a plastic covering, and signed and dated on the back of the badge. They have been hanging around my studio for too long, so I've decided to try putting them on Ebay. To see them, go to the originals section of my shop on ebay. If they sell, there will be more to follow...

June 3rd

Frolicking Fairies. I have added a brand new picture to the site that really belongs to the 'Fornicating Fairies' group of drawings on FornicatingFairies.co.uk. It is, however, a lot more subtle than those rather overt creations, so I thought it would do just as well on this site. Click the thumbnail to see it, or visit my new work page to see all the new things.

May 30th

Life Drawings on Ebay. I am currently auctioning a few life drawings on ebay - two end this Sunday, and two next Sunday. To see them, go to the originals section of my shop on ebay.

May 22nd

Pictures for Colouring-in! For anyone who has some small, bored children who like fairies, I have uploaded some colouring-in drawings.
Unlike my other stuff, these are totally safe, even for 4-year-olds... which is about as old as my nieces were when I did the first lot for them. There being neices in the plural, it is easier to scan a bunch of drawings in and then they can each have one. This may lead to competitive colouring-in, but that's not my responsibility :-) Anyway, it means I have a bunch of images hanging around on my hard disk that I thought I would share with anyone else who might like them. So, if you would like to print them off as drawings that are big enough to actually be coloured in, here are two zip folders of the things:
download the 2007 pictures (6 in all)
download the 2008 pictures (7 in all)
Just click the links to download them. I've also uploaded the images to a Facebook album if you want to see them without downloading them.

May 12th

Greetings Card sale on Ebay:I'm sorry, I'm not going to be doing cards any longer, except for Christmas cards. I do however have quite a lot of greetings cards left, and am planning on selling them off on ebay. To see what I have listed, please go to my Ebay shop and look at the Clearance Items section .

May 11th

New illustration: for Murky Depths # 8. This one was for a story by Jack Westlake, and a bit of a tricky one, this picture! Click the thumbnails to see it or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

May 1st

A gallery of Life Drawing: Those who have kept an eye on my Facebook page (link top right of this page) will have seen a few of my life drawing sketches before. They have now got so numerous I thought it about time I put a few up on this site, too. In fact I have put up rather a lot at once, but you don't have too look at them all of you don't want to!
More Demons in Coasters: I also have another 12 coasters that I've put on the site. A couple of people asked about the other ones, which have gone to Gallery 303 - These coasters are available from me, so if you're interested in buying any just email me.
Click the thumbnails to go the appropriate pages or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

April 30th

Introducing Fornicating Fairies - the website! For those who've not read the previous notes about this, I have a little group of artwork that is a bit more risqué than the rest of my stuff. So, partly in an effort not to alarm those who think I only do 'nice' fairies, and partly because it's a very fine name for a website, I have created www.fornicatingfairies.co.uk. Do take a peek, though depending on where one works these could generally be described as 'not safe for work!'. The website more or less does what it says on the tin...

April 11th

Medusa's Hammock. I have another Medusa painting. This time she is relaxing in her garden, which naturally tends to be rather full of horror-struck-looking 'statues'. Click the thumbnail to see the picture, and you can also see some step-by-step photos on my FaceBook page - see the entry below this one.

April 4th

Work in Progress on Facebook. I've started (yet another) Medusa Painting. This time she is relaxing in her garden, which naturally has quite a collection of rather horror-struck looking 'statues'. By way of a little experiment I thought I would post work in progress images as I go along. You can see the photos here on my Facebook page.

March 12th

I'm now on Facebook. If you want to receive updates you can visit my public profile and add yourself as a fan, to receive more frequent updates than the ones I post here. (Of course I still send out the very occasional newsletter every few months, and notes about exhibitions, and anyone who would like to get those, just email me and ask to be added to the emailing list).

March 5th

Small Stuff: I have put up a few bits and pieces that are very small items, but all original artwork.
First there is the series of Demons in a Coaster - as a direct result of producing so many gold fairies I now find I have a surplus of gold demons, so I have been carefully trapping them in coasters for safe viewing and for keeping coffee rings off your table. All available demon-filled coasters are currently in the 303 Gallery (email me for more details), but I plan to do more when I can.

Then there is also a series of Original Buttons - these are even smaller - tiny circular drawings of demons, fairies, angels, and quite possibly the occasional vampire - all safely trapped inside their own little inch-and-a-quarter button badge. These are not currently listed on this site in their entirety, but I am putting all those available in my Etsy shop, where they are all for sale.
All of these things now live in a section in the Gallery that I've called Small Stuff, which is also where the Permanent Sketches have gone to. Click the thumbnails to go the appropriate pages or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

February 17th

New Picture: here's one I finished just a few weeks ago, 'The Gatecrasher'.
Demons, as previously discussed on this site, are quite keen on social gatherings, and frequently have cocktail parties, to which they naturally invite their friends and colleagues. Unfortunately a few 'undesirable elements' are wont to appear once word gets out about free drinks and the possibility of picking up a 'bit of rough'... Click the thumbnail to see it or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things

January 30th

More illustrations: these are for 'Murky Depths' # 7 - available for sale now from the Murky Depths website.
It seems that illustrations for Murky Depths are half of all I put up here lately. though I promise it's not all I'm doing... The main hold-up is that some of the other pictures have been rather time-consuming - and more than a few of them have been a little more risqué than even I like to put on this site. FornicatingFairies.co.uk is on its way! (though at the moment you'll only see a naughty holding page).
In the meantime you can click the thumbnail above to see my illustrations to C.S. MacCath's wonderful short sci-fi story 'The Longest Road in the Universe'.

January 22nd

New picture: 'Cocktails with the Nouveaux Morts'
Is it just me, or do there seem to be a lot of Vampires around lately? Whatever, I generally struggle to get any of them into my pictures, but I have made a special effort and, following lengthy reasearch, have come up with what I hope is a slightly novel take on the Vampire theme. Click the thumbnail to read more or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things

January 7th

'A Medley of Miscreants'
The exhibition in Wells, Somerset is still on, and runs until 17th January 2009. For more information please visit my Future Exhibitions page.

December 21st

Hi, Merry Christmas and all the best for 2009... and thanks for visiting!
Nancy xxx.
The picture above is of course my new Christmas picture for 2008 - click on it to see the full image.

November 11th

Another illustration: for 'Murky Depths' (issue 6) - click the thumbnail to read more, and to mark the fact that I now have a grand total of 2 illustrations on this site, I have even added an 'illustrations' section to the gallery, so they no longer have to reside in the 'commissioned portraits' bit, which wasn't really appropriate anyway....
Christmas Cards: well, obviously I have Christmas cards for sale... but I'm running very low indeed on 'Bauble' so if anyone is planning on ordering lots of cards including these, then you'd better get in there quick!
I have another exhibition coming up at the end of this month, in Wells, Somerset. For more information please visit my Future Exhibitions page.
New work - new work has been a little thin on the ground lately (partly due to too many exhibitions), but I shall shortly have some new stuff to show you - I'm currently constructing another little website to display a few more risqué pictures, though, so all in good time...

September 26th

Cheap things!! I'm trying out Ebid, and in an attempt to get my little shop going over there I have quite a few things at reduced prices. Have a look here to find links to all my 'stores', or here are the stores individually:
Art by Nancy Farmer
FetishDollies by Nancy Farmer
The Naughty Bits

September 1st

I have another exhibition: Somerset Art Week is running again from 13th to 28th September 2008. And as before I shall be exhibiting all my available paintings that I can lay hands on, and will also have prints, cards and calendars for sale. For more information please visit my Future Exhibitions page.

August 1st

I don't often do illustrations, but this one was fun! This is an illustration I did a few months ago for Sci Fi / Fantasy / Horror anthology 'Murky Depths' (issue 5) - click the thumbnail to read more or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things

June 21st

New pictures: I've been sneaking a few new things onto the website - well, sneaking is maybe not quite fair - but anyway - they have been getting here without my getting round to actually mentioning them on the front page, so I have a little catching up to do. I have yet another new Medusa painting - 'Medusa's Gimps' - where Medusa finds a new vocation in life (and a develops a new-found taste in slightly tacky interior decor).
Then there were the Origami Mermaids - done especially for Gallery 303's summer exhibition entitled 'Fish and Ships'
And finally - I said I'd never do them, but you don't want to believe everything I say - I completed the first couple of Platinum Fairies, as something of a celebration to mark the completion of the 50th 'Gold Fairy'. you can see these on the Gold Fairies page. To date I have got so far as Platinum Fairy number 1 and number 2, and at present one has been sold and one is on display in Gallery 303, so I have none here at all, but as I have still a few small sheets of platinum leaf I think there will be a few more Platinum Fairies before too long... click the thumbnails or visit my new work page to see all these new things.

June 28th

Lots more cards: I have updated my greetings cards page with lots more cards. Some cards are brand new, and some I just hadn't got round to telling everyone about. There are now nearly 50 images as cards, and I've made the page less fancy but easier to keep up to date. Please note - some of the cards I have in VERY small numbers (like about 5, at present...) however, I hope I have guessed the popular ones and got lots of them.

Thank you to everyone who came to my exhibition at Glastonbury!. It was lovely to see people. The next exhibition will be as part or Somerset Art week in September - see my Exhibitions Page for details.

May 20th

'Hell and High Tea'
- Solo Exhibition in Gallery Eight, Glastonbury, UK.
Tuesday June 3rd - Saturday June 15th
I have hired the upstairs room of Gallery Eight, and will be displaying a large number of my paintings, and probably a small display of the dolls photos too. Prints will also be available. Entry is free and you are welcome to just pop in and browse.
For more info, visit my Exhibitions Page.
(The exhibition picture is a new painting called Five Aces).

May 6th

There's several new changes to tell you about. First off I have a new painting: 'The Sphinx changes the Rules'. Another tale out of Ancient Greece - here is the Sphinx, somewhat more resourceful than the monster in the original story... To see the painting, click the thumbnail or visit my new work page.

Also, I'd like to announce the opening of the 'Commissions' gallery - setting out from the first to become something of a rogues gallery it would appear. Every now and then someone wants to actually be in one of my paintings - usually they seem to like to be devils for some reason, but I'm open to other suggestions. For anyone interested in commissioning a painting of themselves I have put a few notes on the commissions page, but do email me if you'd like to know more.

One last thing - finally you can now buy prints straight from my website as I've added paypal buttons for all of the prints - click the link to the left of each painting's page in my gallery, so see the list of prints I have for each one - but I will still be very happy to hear from anyone by email if you want to order prints 'in person' so to speak.

March 21st

New picture: 'Painted Devils'. The unholy trinity of she-devils returns - this time they are having their hooves painted in fetching shades to match their outfits - no self-respecting she-devil would be seen dead with scruffy hooves, and though sadly there are many devils without a shred of self-respect these girlies are not amongst them... To see the painting, click the thumbnail or visit my new work page.

February 21st

I have an exhibition coming up: 'Understating the Obvious' - Solo Exhibition at 'Frameus' in Wells, Somerset, UK. March 1st - 29th 2008 - for details have a look at my future exhibitions page

February 16th

New gallery: A few more changes to the website have been happening - all the menus pages in the gallery have had an overhaul, and I've added a few new categories as you can see from the top gallery page. Some stuff has moved around, so paintings that you thought were in a particular section of the gallery may not be there anymore - sorry! but don't despair because I've also re-done the 'everything' page in the gallery, and now it really does include everything, all alphabetically listed, so if it's on the website, it will be there. I hope. Anything that doesn't work, feel free to tell me so...
New/old pictures: A few images are new to the website, though not new to me: 'Extreme Clothing' was a little group of three drawings I did a while back, and all the 'Permanent Sketches' are up on the site, too (see the thumbnails)...

January 27th

New painting: 'Medusa in Venus' Bedroom. Another one! It's becoming a good year for Medusa, but don't worry, if you don't like Medusa I will be getting round to some other subjects in due course... This one was to some extent inspired by the 'Rokeby Venus' by Diego Velázquez - which hangs in the National Gallery. Of course there's rather less danger in seeing Venus face to face - in my version it's Medusa who's seen in the mirror, which makes a lot more sense to my mind... To see the painting, click the thumbnail or visit my new work page.

January 17th

New painting: 'Medusa in England'. First painting of 2008 - and a rather seasonal one. This is Medusa, yes, again! But not at home this time...
It's a small painting, and later than I usually get started in January, due to a huge amount of (largely invisible) website work - on the other hand some of this is starting to filter through to the actual site, finally! There is a brand new set of originals pages which list all the originals I have available for sale - including the 'Permanent Sketches'(see second picture to left) - which were too small and numerous to list before. To see all of the Permanent Sketches' I have for sale, have a look at the page with originals up to £50.
And finally, another 'Maidmers' painting has made it to the site. 'Sirens on the Rocks'(third one down on the left) was finished early last year, but there were just too many Maidmers all at once, and somehow this painting never quite made it to the site before...
To see the paintings, click the thumbnail or visit my new work page.

To see all the new artwork...

...visit the New Work page (menu bar top left).

A little bit about my paintings

My art is largely concerned with the re-working of themes of fairytale and fantasy, mixed with many modern-day references, often trying to give a little dark disturbing twist to my interpretations. The result is something that hovers somewhere between fantasy and satire, and is not quite either.

My characters resonate with modern-day decadences - the fairies are delinquent; the devils bored, half-heartedly persecuting the damned merely because it is their job to do so; the Guardian Angel is fat and indolent, her rose-tinted spectacles shielding any wrong-doing from her 'watchful' eyes. I intend, however, not to depress you, rather to amuse, sometimes disturb, and just occasionally I may hope to make you think.

Have a look at the info section to read a little more about how my paintings are created.