Club RUB is one of the most long-established and respected fetish clubs in the U.K. Recently Kim, the founder of the parties, commissioned artwork for six club flyers to be used from July to December. These will be used to advertise their parties and take their subject matter generally from the theme of each party night..for instance -“Old School Night” in July or “Halloween” in October.
It’s not my usual style but it’s dramatic and suited to the fun-loving atmosphere which Kim creates so well for her club.
For this commission for the German Goddess I was given completely free rein to my imagination and so I developed a surreal theme based on her German ethnicity and on New York, where she makes her home. I chose a costume based on medieval courtly dress but subtly fetishising it with stockings and heels, and placed her on a silken bed within a distorted skyscraper setting. The rendering of her face here cannot do justice to the animation and beauty her devoted admirers adore, but it conveys something of the glee she expresses as she holds a fantastic transparent orb within which she has imprisoned her slave, deformed and insane with unsatisfied desire.
In the post of 24th February I wrote about a series of four drawings called “The Gag-shop” which featured four internationally renowned mistresses. In an unusual and wonderful development these same ladies – Mistress Ezada, Mistress Akella, Madame Catarina and Lady Victoria Valente had the original thought of producing a custom photo session, together with videos, to re-enact the series.
I admit, when I first heard about this, I thought that it was a nice idea but nothing would come of it. For a start, all four mistresses have extremely busy schedules and it would be difficult to synchronise all in one place at one time. But to my surprise, as time passed the project was planned with such care and attention to detail that a time and location in Germany was indeed confirmed, convenient for all mistresses, and a professional photographer hired for the occasion. I grew more enthralled as I saw photographs of the props being made and heard reports of what was happening – and flattered too that unwittingly I had brought four mistresses together in a collaborative effort which has since led to them becoming not only partners but great friends too.
But to the photos.
1
No 1 – original painting
In No. 1 Mistress Akella is walking down the street with a ‘dog’ on her leash carrying her purchases on his back. In the background is the gag-shop.
2
No 2 – original painting
As we move into No. 2 we see Mistress Ezada Sinn looking in through the window of the shop, perhaps deciding which gag the dog beside her will be buying.
3
No 3 – original painting
In No. 3 we have moved inside the shop and see Madame Catarina inspecting the various gags in the shop. There are some really exotic varieties here. In the background another lady has just bought some gags and the sales-assistant is wrapping them up for her.
4
No 4 – original painting
In No 4 we see that lady herself, Lady Victoria Valente looking menacingly at her own slave who has spilt her purchases all over the street. There will be consequences for him!In the background we glimpse Mistress Akella again which brings us satisfyingly round to the first frame again.
I was quite amazed at the result and hope you like them too. Please visit their sites for more information and photos:-
Leg Show was my first regular femdom illustration work, sustained over a period of 5 to 6 years and allowing me to develop my art in a way which had not been possible in previous publications. I was introduced to the editor, the legendary Dian Hanson, by one of her writers – an author of femdom erotica with the preposterous pseudonym Titian Beresford (like I can talk!). I had read his work in some paperback novels and I had struck up a friendly correspondence with him.
Pre-email our business would be conducted by phone and the trusty fax. Dian would call me every other month or so, briefly explaining in her husky drawl the story she wished me to illustrate. Then followed the fax, spewing out the manuscript 15-20 pages long for me to read and over the next few days I’d draft out a rough on paper, fax that back to her, then she would phone back to let me know how she felt. (Thank heavens for today’s email attachments and phone pix!)
My first illustration for “Leg Show”- The Butler
Once the artwork was produced -conventionally of course, no digital art then – it would be couriered via Fedex to land on her desk 5 days later and just hope it was all ok -there was no luxury of just fixing a little digitally. Later to reduce costs I might get a transparency made and mail that off instead of the artwork itself.
At that time Irv O’Neil was writing under the name Neil Wexler and I was sent some of his stories to illustrate, though at that time I had little idea he’d be the media sensation he is these days. He has written his own impressions of Leg Show days on his site and you can find out more about his range of femdom ebooks.
One of numerous collaborations with Neil Wexler aka Irv O’Neil- “Punishing the pornographer”
This fruitful relationship with Leg Show lasted until the turn of the century and Dian’s departure. Once she had left I thought it was time to move on myself and the magazine did not survive that much longer once the popularity of free pirated media on the Net seriously started to erode the printed magazine market. In retrospect Leg Show was at its peak at that period and I look back on the time with pleasure, feeling fortunate to have been a part of it .
It would probably be a lie to say it came as a bolt out of the blue but I had to read the email several times before its meaning became clear. I read the words again and again and with each reading I became more sure of their meaning and I felt a warm rush of pleasure swell inside of me. I looked around the almost deserted train station as I became aware I was grinning like the cat that had got the cream. I tried to compose myself a little before re-reading the message but my grin just got bigger.
Maybe I should explain.
As readers of my blog will know I am the slave and property of Madame Catarina and I have been on a journey to enter deeper into her slavery. The email I had just read was from Madame Catarina and it was suggesting something very…
How did it all start? For some it started it very early but for me it was a ‘lightbulb moment’ at the old age of 18 – a shiver down the spine that made me feel all wobbly, something strange but delicious at the same time. Browsing the top shelf in a London newsagent (news dealer) and seeing a specifically femdom magazine for the first time.
People under 30 must try to conceive of a world without digital imagery. These days you innocently think you might enjoy an obscure fetish, you Google it and a vast array of arc-lamps spring to life, illuminating you with huge quantities of information. We had to catch sight of candle flames flickering in the distance and wandered stumbling towards them, not understanding ourselves what it was we wanted. The problem then was starvation of information, whereas today it an indigestible surfeit.
You were really at the mercy of what your newsagent felt might be saleable or what you might find on a furtive trip to a sex-shop in Central London. Femdom was very much the Cinderella of kink back then (is it still?) and it was an occasion for rejoicing (by yourself usually) when a new magazine came out that hit your spot. Up until my eyes met this magazine I’d never seen one specifically devoted to femdom, nor did I even know that word.
Sadie Stern’s magazine . One of very few femdom magazines in the U.K. during the ’70s
So this is the magazine. I saw it in 1979 somewhere in North London. My memory played tricks on me. I could swear the cover girl was wearing a tiger skin print dress, though it was in fact a model on the inside who was dressed that way. The models were rather tired-looking and disengaged from the current vantage-point, but it didn’t matter, it was all so new, rare and I was just younger – what I saw then was cherished so much more. You had to wait a month to get another issue so you’d actually re-read the copy … again and again.
I never in fact worked for the magazine. It was too early, before I even got into drawing femdom. By the time I was beginning to look for openings it had descended into a graveyard of phone-sex ads, with minimal photo sets and hardly any text. But my memory holds its importance as a spark that set off something. I wonder if people these days remember their first google-search ?
Together with “Madame” magazine, my interest in femdom was sustained and developed until I felt confident enough to start producing my own artwork.
“Madame in a world of fantasy” Entirely B/W mostly writing with pirated photos, but still popular and one the few specifically femdom magazines.
Portrait of Ms Jaded Halo, U.S. – Ms Jaded Halo sits in her chambers about to apply lipstick . Before her two bellboy servants kneel in silence- one with tray of lipsticks and creams, the other with a tissue dispenser cap and a bin for their disposal. Behind a darkened window other admirers can only gaze and hope to gain her attention.
The framed artwork adored by Ms Jaded Halo’s submissive.
There can’t be many of us who don’t find at least something disgusting. I’m not going to say what is or isn’t – that would (suitably) open up a huge can of worms – and it varies in response from one of us to the other. But we all shrink from something and say “yuk.”
When I was a kid I was quite interested in nature study and once on a field trip with the school I excitedly picked up a louse but the teacher – with a disgusted look – told me to throw it away, as she regarded “nature” as song birds and tree identification. The irony of that response irritated me so much that it remains a memory to this day.
“Disgust” is related to the French “goût“, that is – taste, or rather distaste.
It is an inbuilt protective reaction, that causes us to pull away from something that would do us harm – and it seems possible to neutralize it by attempting to understand the resistance or by gaining familiarity with it, as if to tell the body – “thanks for the warning but this is actually ok” so it loses its disgusting aspect. Learn about the wonderful world of moulds and you’ll never feel disgusted again by dank corners of the kitchen. A stronger response to disgust is horror and I think disgust in limited quantities can be quite exciting in the same way as a horror film – it can give us enough shivers to arouse us but not be completely unmanageable. I wonder if you have seen something you feel is disgusting but sexually arousing at the same time?
This illustration here is erotic for me yet it evokes disgusted reactions from some.
“Ugh ! she’s feeding him an insect? that’s disgusting!”
But then a lot of what we consider disgusting is considered delicious by others. I don’t know about slugs but certainly some insects are prized as delicacies. In some ways a certain amount of disgust can give an added piquancy, in the same way as a mouldy blue cheese can be prized by familiarity even though some will inevitably hiss out “yuk” on sight.
The Art of Sardax 