If you don’t already know about it, BUST magazine has an amazing directory of women owned businesses…. and my website just got approved to be included!

I’m so excited that the amazing retro pinup photographer Viva Van Story has added me to the “favorite artists” section of her website www.vivaspinups.com. I also earned a mention on September 26th in Viva’s live journal which showcases her pinup photography and happenings around the retro pinup world. Viva is an amazing person and a great inspiration as well. It was Viva’s photo of Dolly Esquire that inspired me to paint “Red Doll“. Go check it out her sites now!

Amidst a busy week of trips to the printer (the prints of “My Angel is a Pin-Up Girl” turned out amazing) and frame shop (I’ll be submitting a framed print of the aforementioned painting to the Art for a Cure auction held by the Healing Art Foundation next month), I’ve made progress on my painting of Kim Falcon. Busy at work on the underdrawing, I spent more hours than I’d like to enumerate getting her fishnet stockings just right - wow, those things have a lot of detail! Anyway, my schedule is finally clear to continue working on the drawing today - and my hand has had time to recover from the cramps that the stockings caused

Well, if not official it’s close - pin-up girl style is going mainstream in a big way if the Spring/Summer 2007 fashion collections have anything to say about it. From Betsey Johnson’s adorable polka-dots and 40’s and 50’s glamour style revealed in New York to Ferragamo’s Milan show featuring Marilyn Monroe inspired pencil skirts, cardigans and crinoline, pin-up girl style is making a big splash for 2007. (Of course, pin-up girls in-the-know have been able to achieve these looks wit retro-inspired apparel from specialty sites like pinupgirlclothing.com and vintage shops like retrokittykat.com .) Didn’t I predict that pin-ups were going mainstream?? get ready gals, it’s time to practice pin-curls and master wearing red lipstick.

I was excited to see a very favorable article about yours truly and my pin-up art on fleshbot.com, especially since the adult webzine has a much more revealing style than mine:

“In the tradition of fine pin-up artists, Susan Heidi lovingly paints porcelain-pale, smiley, lingerie-clad hotties with complicated hairstyles and great cleavage. Breaking with tradition, Susan is a pretty lady who smiles back at her ladies as she paints them…. ”
- AR

fleshbot.com

- be forewarned that you should not follow the link to their site if you are reading this at work

if you are over 18 and have read my warning above, click here to see the full review & other pin-up related reviews on fleshbot.com including my dearest pin-up model Heidi Van Horne and Photos by Dolph (Timothy Dolph).

My artwork and website link can now be found on lawyernews.com as recommended viewing I guess pin-ups really are popping up everywhere! Thanks, Paul (wink).

I worked on the initial drawing for the painting of pin-up model Kim Falcon today. This first step of the painting requires deciding the size of the final painting - 30in x 40in in this case, and scaling the small 5×7 inch printed photo to the large illustration board using a projector. I’ll be putting together some detailed step-by-step articles in the near future to give a better idea of what’s involved. Suffice to say that right now I have a not so good representation of a beautiful lady that needs LOTS of work before it can be called a finished pin-up. (My son couldn’t understand why the drawing has no mouth yet - I’m going to work that in freehand from another shot of Kim.) The next step of the painting is to work on this underdrawing - re-drawing each line precisely and adding some shading - until I have achieved a good basis for the finished work. Besides working on the drawing of Kim, I also worked on getting permission to use a reference photo for another painting I need to get started on - still more work to be done there, too.

You can read more about the explosion of the retro pin-up craze in the article “Pinups pop up again” by Colleen O’Connor in today’s style section of the Denverpost.com. As I’ve said many times, the author quotes pinup models and photographer Viva Van Story (one of my faves, and inspiration for my painting “Red Doll“) who feel it’s the nostalgia for a more innocent time that is drawing more and more women to at least try retro pinup glamour, even if just for a day. These ladies feel it’s the desire to look and feel glamourous and sexy without revealing too much that is the big appeal of the pinup style. I can’t agree more. O’Connor also gives tips in the article on how to get the look and where to go online for resources.

What is the attraction of today’s young adults to the retro pin-up scene? I’ve said before that in my mind people are drawn to the romanticism and nostalgia of days gone by - be it the golden era of Hollywood glamour or the raucous Saloon during the Gold Rush. In an article titled “Now is Noir” in today’s Canton Rep (www.cantonrep.com), author Tim Molloy examines Hollywood’s fascination with noir (an era he defines as post-war 40’s and 50’s) which continues this month with the release of the two movies, “Hollywoodland” and “The Black Dahlia”. In the article, some retro inspired clubs and restaurants around L.A. are mentioned in addition to much deserved recognition of Dita Von Teese’s “period perfect makeup, hair, and attire”. One contributor debunks the idea of the noir era as being a “simpler time”, but I’ll stick with my opinion that retro is romantic and fun - that’s what draws us to it, period. I would love to hear what you think!

I took my latest painting “My Angel is a Pin-Up Girl” to the printer today to have it scanned. That’s the first step in creating my fine art prints. The painting is being scanned using the Betterlight Direct 4×5 scanback system, which renders a high resolution digital file for making the best quality prints in terms of color, clarity, and feel of the original painting. I have my paintings scanned at The Highland Studio, a fine art atelier operated by Lisa and Joe Diebboll, a husband and wife team. After the scan is complete I’ll go back to review a proof and then my archival quality fine art prints can be produced. I am so fortunate to be living near such talented print making professionals!