Approaching 50 (Self Portrait)

12 x 9 inches, charcoal, 2016.


I turn 50 later this year. No big deal. What is a big deal is the decision I made with my consultant a couple of weeks ago to start dialysis and have my kidneys removed. I have Polycystic Kidney Disease, a hereditary kidney disease  where cysts grow on the kidneys (and sometimes other organs).  The kidneys grow in size and eventually stop working. My kidneys are still functioning (about %25) but are now so large they are causing a lot of discomfort and are squashing other organs. Hence the decision to remove them. So, by the time I hit 50 in December I will be dialysing three times a week and may well have had both my diseased kidneys removed. It will be a big change but hopefully I will feel more comfortable and have more energy. Maybe by the time I'm 51 I will have had a transplant. There is always hope - roll on 50!

Liz Taylor (AHS)

Liz Taylor, 7 x 10 inches, watercolor, pencil and gouache, 2016.

A portrait of Liz Taylor from the TV series American Horror Story: Hotel, as played by Dennis O'Hare. It wasn't my favourite season of the show but Dennis was fabulous as Liz.

Bathtime

Bathtime, watercolor and pencil, 8 x 11 inches, 2016.

Painted for the EBSQ "Go Figure" show. 

David Bowie 1947 - 2016

From Ziggy To Blackstar, watercolor and pencil, 2016.

Frida De Los Muertos

Frida De Los Muertos, watercolor and watercolor pencil, 22 x 29 cm, 2015

Frida De Los Muertos, detail

I painted this for EBSQ's Day Of The Dead themed show. It''s a portrait of Frida Kahlo in Day Of The Dead make-up. It's based on her "Self Portrait with Monkeys" so she is surrrouned by spider monkeys with  decorated skull heads - her exposed heart is being caressed by the monkeys and the veins of the leaves are attached to the veins of her heart symbolising how nature fed her soul.

Prints are available from Etsy and Society 6.

Alfie

Alfie, 8 x 10 inches, graphite pencil.

One of my dog-walking friends recently lost her 11 year old Golden Retriever, Alfie, to cancer, so I drew him for her. He was a lovely sweet-natured dog who will be much missed.

Willem Arondeus 1894 - 1943

Willem Arondeus, pencil, 6 x 8 inches, 2015.

Willem Arondeus was an openly gay artist, writer and Nazi resistance fighter from Holland. He used his artistic skills to create forged identity papers for Dutch Jews. He led an attack on the Amsterdam General Registry Office in an attempt to destroy as many of the original documents as possible and managed to destroy thousands. Unfortunately he was later caught and executed by firing squad.. In his last message he said "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards".

Cilla

Cilla, pencil, 6 x 8 inches, 2015

Cilla was laid to rest today - in tribute here is a pencil portrait I drew of her a couple of weeks ago.

Four Faces Of Toyah

I created this Toyah "wallpaper" by creating four individual portraits in watercolor and pencil, scanning them into the computer and using Photoshop to arrange them.

It's available to purchase as prints, mugs, leggings, pillows etc. from Redbubble or Society6

Ta-ra Cilla

Swingin' Cilla, 4 x 6 inches, watercolor and pencil, 2015

When I was 6 or 7 years old I was given an old record player - the type that was in a box with a lid, on legs.  As far as I can remember I think it had belonged to one of my Aunts and came with a pile of old singes - 45's and 78's, all stuff from the 60's. I can only really remember two of the records  - one was The Beverly Sisters  "Little Drummer Boy" and the other was "Anyone Who Had A Heart" by Cilla Black. That one I played again and again, I loved it.

Around the same time my paternal Grandparents lived in Denham, and I frequently stayed with them. I was outside playing one day when a lady passed with a pram. The baby in the pram threw it's glove into the street, so I retrieved it and handed it to the lady, who smiled. My Nan must have been watching as when I went back in she told the lady with the pram was Cilla Black,

It wasn't until the 1990's that I really paid attention to Cilla's music. Throughout the 80's and my adolescence she had been a fixture on TV with Surprise Surprise and Blind Date and I was ambivalent about her. I was working in a music shop in the early 90's when a compilation of Cilla's hits was released (I think it was the first time her music had been released on CD). I was hooked! I would play it in the shop - on one occasion Elvis Costello was in the shop at the time and examined the CD case in the "What's Playing Now" box with a wry smile. It's a love affair that's lasted until now. Cilla was the most successful of the 60's girl singers (Dusty, Lulu, Sandie etc) but the least well remembered, mainly because she never really went away but became a staple of "light entertainment" and that rather tainted her musical legacy. Of course, there is also the voice - distinctive but divisive. Cilla always said she hoped to be remembered as a singer rather than a TV presenter. I hope she is too.

Cilla Black - 1943 - 2015

Bianca Del Rio and Sharon Needles

Bianca Del Rio, watercolor and pencil, 2015

Sharon Needles, watercolor and pencil, 2015

I'm a big fan of Rupaul's Drag Race so I painted these portraits of two of my favourite contestants.

Frank Underwood, watercolor and pencil, 4 x 6 inches, 2015

I love the Netflix series "House Of Cards". I didn't think it would be my cup of tea but I gave it a go and was soon hooked. So I painted Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood.

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, watercolour and pencil, 2015, 6 x 8 inches

Gustav Klimt, detail.

Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918) was a Austrian symbolist painter mostly famous for his highly decorative paintings using gold leaf. Initially a very successful conventional painter of portraits and murals, he developed a more controversial and erotic style of painting influenced by Japanese art. I have been a huge fan of his since my teens. I adore the decorative style and the themes of life, sex and death that run through his work, so I decided to paint his portrait for the EBSQ Portrait of an Artist exhibition. 

Klimt portrait sketches....

Klimt sketches, pencil and watercolor, 2015

 This month on EBSQ the theme of the show is Portrait of the Artist. I'm still undecided on who I'm doing but today I did some sketches of Gustav Klimt, whose work I have loved since I was a teenager. Other possible subjects I'm considering are Andy Warhol and Joni Mitchell. Maybe Frida Kahlo but I've done her before...

Nan

Nan, 8 x 11 inches, watercolour, 2015.

A portrait of Jamie Brewer as Nan in American Horror Story:Coven.

Myrtle Snow

Myrtle Snow, watercolor and pencil, 8 x 11 inches, 2015

A portrait of Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow in American Horror Story|: Coven, Belenciaga!!

Fiona Goode

Fiona Goode, 8 x 11 inches, watercolour and pencil, 2015

A portrait of the amazing Jessica Lange as Fiona Goode in American Horror Story: Coven.

Hannibal and Will

Hannibal, watercolor and pencil, 4 x 6 inches, 2015

Will Graham, watercolor and pencil, 4 x 6 inches, 2015

I finally got around to seeing the first series of Hannibal and loved it - hence these two portraits of Mads Mikkelson as Hannibal and Hugh Dancy as Will Graham.
Prints available here:https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MarkSatchwillArt?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Contact me if interested in the original paintings.

Toyah: Snow Covers The Kiss

Watercolour, 2014.

So I'm a big Toyah fan and have been for nearly 35 years. I've painted her several times over the last few years. Back in 1985 she released a song called "Snow Covers The Kiss". It was relegated to a B-side of the single "Don't Fall In Love (I Said)" but for me it was equally as good. So this image came about from imagining if "Snow" had been the single and needed a cover image. Toyah's look at the time was much more glamorous and sophisticated than previously, so I've tried to keep that theme.

Jaquetta, Duchess of Bedford

Jaquetta, Duchess of Bedford, Digital, Artrage, 2013.

This is a piece I did last year for a book, "The Woodvilles", by Susan Higginbotham. Susan requested the portrait as there are no exisiting images of Jaquetta, who was the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV and mother of the Princes in the Tower.