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.

Next Exhibitions:

The Fornicating Fairies and the Fairy Ring are appearing in the Art Erotica exhibition in Cork Street, London 19th - 27th January 2012 To see more details please go to my Exhibitions Page.
On 11th - 12th February 2012 we have another Spring Farm Arts open weekend. As usual, I shall be exhibiting in the Cider Barn Gallery.

January 26th

I have been adding to the new blog - the posts are generally 'artwork in progress' rather than the finished pieces that reside here. Here are the most recent posts:

More mezzotint masqueraders

Sketches for the Poison Flower Fairies: the very kinky latex-clad fairy of the Caper Spurge

Sketches for the Poison Flower Fairies: Ricina, maligned and (usually) innocent

January 19th

I'm delighted to report that my drawing 'Fornicating Fairies' has won the Grand Prize at the Art Erotica exhibition in Cork Street, London (19th - 27th January 2012) - follow the link to find out more.
I have also kept up my blog of work-in-progress, and am currently posting the Sketches for the Poison Flower Fairies - a series of paintings that will happen when I finally have the time to paint them. For the moment there are four sketches, the most recent being 'The very kinky latex-clad fairy of the Caper Spurge'

December 22nd

Medusa in Mezzotint:
My newly-begun blog is now showing my first mezzotint prints. Visit http://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/a-first-attempt-at-mezzotint-part-3/ to see the first results of my experiences with this facinating and rare engraving technique.

December 9th

A new Blog and a new technique:
There is nowhere on this site for me to post pictures of what I'm currently up to, as opposed to finished pictures, so I have started a blog. This has the other advantage of coming equipped with an RSS feed, should you wish to keep an eye on it you can chose to be informed when I post something new. Click here to see my first post, and my first attempt at mezzotint.
The Fornicating Fairies in London:
My (terribly rude) Fornicating fairies drawings have been shortlisted for the Art Erotica to be held in Cork Street galery, London, in January. To see more details please go to my Exhibitions Page.

November 29th

Special Sale: The last of the Gold Fairies, for only £55 each!
Recently I picked up a few of the gold fairies that had been on display and away from home. I now have the very last few all gathered together at home, and, being all shiny gold things as they are, it seemed a rather nice thing to offer this last few at a very festive discount. So, they are only £55 each, just until the end of December. Price includes frame, but not shipping. They are in pencil and 24 carat gold leaf and all completely individual. Please email me for details if you'd like to snap up one of these original drawings. To see them all, please visit the gold fairies page.

November 28th

Gift tags for sale!
I have been making some rather nice little gift tags, illustrated with details from my paintings. You can buy them here. What with gift tags, baubles and christmas fairs, finished artwork has been rather thin on the ground lately, however, you can keep up with one or two works in progress by looking in on my facebook page.

October 4th

A Murder of Crows
This year has been short on paintings, but some of that is because those few I have completed have been complex, detailed, and for the most part involved rather a lot of gold leaf. This painting is no exception. Continuing with the theme of masquerade, and an over-enthusiasm for backgrounds gleaming and golden, here is 'A Murder of Crows'. Inspired by favourite collective noun. Click on the thumbnail to see it, or visit my new work page.

September 8th

New and bigger Calendars! I have ordered some lovely, big, A3 size calendars for 2012, featuring my etching prints, and I have ordered only 80, since I've never done them this way before and I can't afford to be left with any in January, so order now to avoid dissapointment! Go to this page to see more.

July 20th

New Work: A lot more paintings and etchings.
I have been tidying up loose ends and trying to get everything on the database, before I am overtaken by several exhibitions one after another and I get even more behind - see above and my exhibitions page for more details of these. Now for once, I believe the website is almost completely up to date! I have just added several more items, some of which took a month or so each, so that only goes to show how far behind I was. There is a new addition to the series 'The Flower Fairies run to Seed' - making a grand total of 3 - which still isn't much of a series, but I'm getting there! Then there are another 3 paintings, each more complex than the last, seemingly, and each of which used rather a lot of gold leaf. Finally, I have added the last couple of etchings to the Etchings gallery.

The only outstanding items now are quite a lot of coasters that must at some point be added to the Small Stuff gallery - if I don't sell them before I get round to it, which seems to happen a bit with coasters... Now I have just to re-label everything and re-arrange them on the walls, three times in the next two months! Click the thumbnails to the left to see the new additions to the site, or visit the New Work gallery.

Oh, and one more thing - if anyone would like me to email them with news of when I have exhibitions, please send me an email and ask to be added to the emiling list - I don't email out very often, but it saves you missing something and having to check the website.

June 11th

New etchings, many more life drawing sketches, and just a few coasters
So, I am continuing with the much-needed catching up! I have now added several new etchings, some of which have been waiting some time to be added to this site. In addition I have added a few need Stain Devil Coasters, though, as usual there aren't really very many of these available, as often they tend to get sold before I can update the site... and I have also added a lot of new life drawings. It has now become apparent that there are far too many life drawings on this site and they are swamping the shop pages, so very soon it will be time to re-arrange the shop and perhaps put the Life Drawings into a category of their own, and quite probably weed out many of the weaker drawings as well. For the moment you can see them all in the Life Drawing section of the gallery, but expect it to shrink in the near future!

March 30th

New paintings: The Flower Fairies run to Seed!
I can finally update my website properly again! I have been unable to do this easily for technical reasons for some time, plus, before Christmas I was just so very busy that a lot of new stuff didn't get put on the site, so I have a backlog, mostly of etching prints actually; however, to start with here are a couple of paintings that I finished in late August of last year. Back then I'd painted a couple of rather generously proportioned fairies with undersized wings, who were suspended on balloons for extra lift... continuing the theme of large girls, I suddenly had the idea it would be a rather nice plan to do a few 'mature' flower fairies - not the thin skinny little ones you expect, but big curvy ones at the 'fruit' stage of a flower or plant's life. And I picked the ones growing in my garden as that seemed like a rather nice idea. Unfortunately there are so far only two paintings: pumpkin and rose. I started one about runner beans that I shall one day finish, and maybe later there shall be more.

March 13th

New pictures coming very soon!
I apologise for not having updated this site recently - I have several pictures waiting to go up now, but there have been technical issues with the site, that I'm still working through, and I simply haven't had the time to get on and fix it all at once. I am nearly there! Very soon I will get back to updating this site as usual. In the mean time you can see some progress and new stuff on my Facebook page, click here or on the thumbnail to go there.

December 30th

Colouring-in drawings: download for free and colour in yourself!
I have posted a small collection of colouring-in drawings for your amusement... or more properly for the amusement of your children, if you have any. These were originally done for my nieces and nephews, and are all suitable and safe for children! Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to the shiny-new colouring-in gallery, once there, clicking on each image will bring it up in its own page where you'll find the images are big enough to save and print out at about A4 size... easy... or at least I hope so - any problems email me and I'll try to help.

December 24th

Hi, Merry Christmas and all the best for 2011... and thanks for visiting!
Nancy xxx.
...and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I am still going to wish you one... I am after all an Atheist, so prepared to steal any good drinking traditions from anyone's religion :-)
The picture of course is my latest Christmas card painting and will be appearing in the Christmas gallery as soon as I have the time.... meanwhile, do visit the Christmas gallery if you'd like to see the results of over a dozen past Christmases, and the steadily ageing poem 'What happened on Boxing Day'...

December 6th

More life drawing sketches, and coasters
I have been doing a bit of catching-up here on this site, and have just added a lot of little stuff: I have reached number 100 of the Stain Devil coaster series and all the unsold ones are now up on the site. This isn't actually very many - they've been popular - so if you were thinking of buying any for a last-minute Christmas present, you may want to hurry! I've also added quite a lot of new life drawings - some framed, some unframed. All unsold ones are currently available just from me, but that may change in due course. I also have a couple of paintings and etchings waiting to be added, so check back soon to see more new stuff!

November 12th

I have prints for sale again in Glastonbury! Those of you who know both Glastonbury and my pictures may have noticed that GalleryEight, sadly, has gone, and for a while I didn't have anywhere selling my prints. Well, they're back, now available from Glastonbury Galleries. I have dropped off a good selection of pints, plus a few etchings.

October 24th

More Etchings
These four pictures are all etchings done this year - some quite early in the year I have to admit, so it's high time they made it onto the website. Nonetheless the timing seems somewhat appropriate: the garden outside again has the elegant decay of autumn, just a little threatening, colder and darker than it was, and somehow these monochrome pictures seem fitted to the season. The first two to the left are definitely sinister: here is the second re-appearance of 'The Guilty Party' - this time re-worked as a more compact, simplified image, more suitable for etching. 'The Crimson Masquerade' also has a painted version, called 'Better the Last Smile than the First Laughter' - follow the link to the left and you can see both versions. And on a lighter note, there are fairies and angels, as ever! Click each picture to see them or, visit my new work page.

September 2nd

Four New Fairy Paintings!
I apologise, I haven't posted a single piece of news here in the month of August... instead I've been hard at work trying to get a few new paintings done for exhibitions. It does seem to be about time I added some pictures, though. These particular ones were mostly done in June and July - for the august paintings you'll have to wait a little while, though you can also take a peek on my facebook page.
These started off as an idea I had that if I painted a few fairy 'portraits', with no particular background details, I could have a few pictures finished in no time (recent paintings having taken a month or two each). Of course it never comes out like that: the backgrounds themselves developed into something of an obsession. It doesn't really show up particularly well on a screen, but they have layer upon very thin layer of several different watercolours, to create an airy blend of shifting colours. This involved repeatedly wetting the whole surface (to avoid tidemarks), adding a bit of colour, drying the whole thing with a hairdryer and starting over again... for a few hours! And then there were the actual fairies to be painted...
Anyway, you can click each picture to see the results or, as usual, visit my new work page.

July 29th

I have just added two new paintings to the website:
'Tea on the Lawn' is reminiscent of most English summers, though not, I have to admit, this one. Which is just typical, of course: just when you thought you could rely on the weather to rain all summer, it doesn't! Anyway, it was painted for an exhibition at the 303 Gallery entitled 'Whatever the Weather', and seems appropriate for all that.
'Better the Last Laugh than the First Laughter' is another masquerade scene, and, like the last one I have gilded the entire background of this painting, this time in 24 carat gold, with inset bits of green gold leaf... and since I had the green gold still as transfer leaf and not loose leaf I have one or two scraps left now to make a couple more gold Demons in a Coaster, which I have almost completely sold out of now.
Click the thumbnails to see these new paintings on this site or, as usual, visit my new work page to see all the new things.

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.