Cherryfox Fine Photography - Artist Statement & Current Projects

I am a multi-discipline artist, working in photography, performance and costumes/crafts. I've been a fully self-employed artist since 2009, a professional cabaret performer and costume maker for over ten years, and I also teach sewing.

It Ain't Ballet? Cabaret Capers in America! Pt 1

So in the second part of my Adventures in America towards my 'It Ain't Ballet? Photographic comparison of Pro-Wrestling and Cabaret' was obviously the Cabaret! I was invited to New York to visit Burlesque Goddess Legs Malone and Beautifully bonkers film maker/ Punk musician Lola Rocknrolla. I have to say I was in terribly good company!

It Ain't Ballet? Photographic comparison of Pro-Wrestling and Cabaret

Well then readers, my little artistic dream is apparently going to come true!

I thought I'd write a little blog for those of you who haven't heard me babble at great length about this project I've been nursing for years. BTW this is the very short version of events...

Cherryfox® 'Sing-and-Fling' acts...

'Sing-and-fling' is exactly what it sounds like; a mixture of Burlesque strip tease and live vocals. Harking back to the heyday of Burlesque, the 'sing-and-fling' was popularised by Gypsy Rose Lee, but is practised by only a handful of performers now.

Cherryfox®'s particular brand of 'sing-and-fling' combines classic vintage glamour with 80's alternative musical influences. 'Sing-and-fling's can be performed as single acts or as 3 track sets. With ten years experience as a professional vocalist, Cherryfox® has a vast repertoire covering many musical genres. Custom sets can but put together to perfectly suit your event.

Stand alone 'Sing-and-fling' acts

Dark sensual acts

‘The Predator’

Performed to an instrumental version of ‘Lullaby’ by the Cure, with live vocals.

In this ‘sing-and-fling’ piece, Cherryfox® plays both the deadly ‘Black Widow’ and Her fearful, yet entranced, victim. The ‘Black Widow’ is on the prowl and Her shivering prey awaits the arrival of the deadly beauty, with a lush mixture of fear and anticipation. Our carnivorous villainess always hits her mark and Her complicit prey is more than grateful. A dark act that features an unsettling blend of classic femme noir glamour and gothic villainess.

View video of this act HERE

image (c) Iolair Images


 

Cherryfox® Burlesque Routines...

Cherryfox® has been a professional burlesque performer for more than 5 years, a selection of her acts are described below...

Sultry Sensual Acts

The Jazz Singer – to ‘Word Up’ performed by Willis.

Cherryfox®’s signature routine. A sensual and provocative striptease routine, Cherryfox® slinks around the stage to this fantastic cover version of the Cameo track ‘Word Up’. Accompanied by Her vintage microphone ‘Ginger’, Cherryfox® performs like no other jazz singer!

View video of this act HERE 

Image (c) Graham Warsap Photography

Events Cherryfox® has performed at...

Cherryfox® has been performing as a professional vocalist since 2003 and a burlesque performer since 2007. She has performed at a wide range of events, to many different audiences and also held several residencies. A selection of events are posted below. Corporate events and private events not listed.

"I'm still alive! Honest!" A blog about why I forgot to blog!

So, a couple of days ago I received a very exciting email from a very exciting publication. Whilst explaining that I STILL hadn't got round to putting up a proper website despite owning Cherryfox.co.uk for some years, I directed said exciting publication here to see a sample of my work. After pressing SEND I realised in horror that I hadn't posted here since the end of last year! Alas blogging went the same way as housework, to the bottom of the to do list under all the stuff that pays the bills. So in case said exciting publication does come to look here I thought I'd post a little something about everything I've been doing that's been keeping me away from blogging. Well the interesting bits anyway, wont bore you with the 'stuff that pays the bills'.

January
So truth be told after the hectic end to last year, I didn't do much in january, we had a visit from a delightful little kitten who got shut out of his house, we called him Wally (like the Flash), he stayed overnight and then we found his mamma the next day.

Dr Sketchy's Birmingham - Paradise Island

Hello all

*grumble I just wrote this entire blog only for my darned computer to decide to restart itself and lose it all, lets try again!*

Already another Dr Sketchy's Birmingham has come around (I really don't know where this year is going), for those not familiar with the concept see my earlier blog here for more details. This months theme was Paradise Island.

Liberty Pink opened the show with a song I must admit, I am unfamiliar with, I did mean to ask her the title but I of course forgot in all the excitement. I'm not sure she'll thank me for saying this but I thought she looked like a punk Mermaid Barbie *giggles*

BICS & Dr Sketchy's Birmingham

Morning all

So this week saw me mostly swearing at metallic fabric in preparation for a very special Dr Sketchy's Birmingham at BICS - British international comics show. The show featured ...

Crimson Skye as Sally Jupiter
Parma Violet as Harley Quinn
Sherry Trifle as Cheetara
Marnie Scarlet as Poison Ivy
Liberty Pink as Jessica Rabbit and Tank Girl
and Myself as Wonder Woman

Silhouette Burlesque October - Halloween Warm Up

Well hello ladies and gents,

This weekend saw the final Silhouette Burlesque of the year, featuring some of my very favourite performers...

Dr Sketchy's Birmingham - Screen Sirens

Well hello peoples,

Yes yes I know, after promising regular blogs it's been FOREVER, sadly stupid paid work keeps taking priority. The curse of the self employed person, your customers now own your life, because someone else owns your house! So I'm now stupidly behind with my blogs and my personal editing, I have so many interesting things to show you and really not enough time to post it all up here, so I shall be trying to catch up, but you might have to make do with blogs about events that were months ago. Sorry!

'Voodoo Lady' Daiquiri Dusk

Evening All

Well, I finally seem to have a full set of working gear so I've managed to start catching up on my editing. These next few shoot blogs might be a little less detailed than usual as the shoots aren't as fresh in my head.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Kabarett and Looks that Kill

Afternoon all

Well this week saw my Edinburgh fringe debut, an event that was equally exciting and terrifying!

Red Rocks at The Island Bar Birmingham

Evening All

Well this week has been a pretty ordinary one thankfully, this weeks highlight being Red Rocks at the Island Bar Birmingham on Friday.

This week I have been mostly... 25th July Edition

Hello all,

Well a mixed bag of busyness this week, photo shoots, gigs and workshops. (Random fact I just learned whilst spell checking, a group of ferrets are called a busyness!)

Ministry of Burlesque High Tease at Lowry Manchester

Hello Guys and Dolls

This week has been largely uneventful, other than possibly the most important/ prestigious performances of my burlesque career so far. I think I need to go into a little back history here for the significance of this event to make sense so bear with me. *Cue Scooby Doo flashback wobbles*

This week I have been mostly... 11th July Edition

Afternoon all,

Well, this week was a delightful mix of fun times, photo shoots and technological 'issues'.

Wednesday saw a visit from the wonderful Tempest Devyne, who I am missing like crazy since she upped sticks and carted off across the Atlantic! Much as I miss her, America seems to be doing wonders for her, she seems happier than I have seen her in a long time, which warms my heart. We managed to fit in a shoot in her new 'Jessie the Cowgirl' Lady Ga Ga inspired costume, strange combination but oddly it did work! Why is there no sneak peak you ask... I'll get to that later.

Silhouette Burlesque June 'Scottish Invasion'

Well hello,

Never let it be said that I'm not one to drag out birthday celebrations, this weekend saw my third (and final) set of birthday celebrations. Silhouette Burlesque 'Scottish Invasion'.

Silhouette Burlesque is a night I've been running now for over two years. It's a small intimate affair at 'The Appleby' an amazing venue run by amazing people. The night has become well attended by other burlesque performers and promoters and is seen as a great place to premier acts and meet people. As well as it being a darned good excuse for us all to have a knees up! This particular event was made even more special than usual by the bill, my fav performers from Scotland (both on and off stage!) With a couple of notable exceptions due to lack of car room and lack of them being in the UK at the moment.

This week I have been mostly... 13th June Edition

Hola,

This week I have been mostly chilling out! The biggest drawback to being self employed, the one you never think about before you try running your own business, is the lack of time off. Before you start you assume you'll be able to take time off whenever you need it, well you cant. You can take time off when you have earned the rent! Having met this criterion this month, I decided it was about time I took a little holiday, albeit one on a rather tight budget.

As luck would have it, The Evil Genius's momma has just moved to Wales and a rather nice, country side-y bit of wales at that, LlanFair. So with various relaxation aids packed including 1940's & 1950's fashion histories and a giant tapestry of a fairy I've been working on for about ten years, we embarked on the surprisingly short jaunt to wales, via a rather fine roadside greasy spoon for bacon butties (I believe I have mentioned before my penchant for a good greasy spoon!). Tuesday evening was spent mainly sat on the veranda enjoying the weather and peace, topped off with a little scenic walk to the local pub 'The Goat' and some real ale. Absolutely delightful!


Obligatory holiday snap of a boat, cause you have to, don't you!

Elven Princess, Emerald of The Ace

Morning All,

Well after an epic amount of editing this weekend, I am now ready to reveal the second set of pics I made with Emerald Ace last week. After our improv shoot in the church yard we toddled back to chez Fox for some lunch and for the studio shoot that was actually the reason for our weekend of fun!

I recently acquired a huge pile of celtic/gothic/belly dance jewellery. My first thought when looking at the elaborate dangly necklaces was of Bollywood stars and then of the princesses in 80's fantasy films I grew up watching. So my instant exclamation upon receiving said box of sparklys was "I'm gonna put ALL this on Emerald's head!" Got to love Emerald for her ever willing attitude to have random things piled on her head, last time it was tiny glittering birds and butterflies!

As per usual, the initial ideas we had for the styling of this shoot evolved as we began getting ready. I had in mind a Bollywood feel for the images, using patterned colourful sari fabric as a backdrop, but the minute Emerald got dressed I saw that she was far more 'Gypsy matriarch' than 'Bollywood star'. So first U turn there...

Second U turn, wig, we had planned to use Emerald's long green wavy wig that she wears in her octopus act, but stage wigs receive extra wear and tear from being transported and become bitty rather quickly. Unnoticeable on stage but the little frizzy aura that surrounds a well worn wig is an absolute nightmare to tidy up in photoshop, mainly because it's very time consuming. It's not technically difficult on a plain background but an absolute pain on a patterned one. So... rethink, I have a very similar style wig in red, that I wear when I am 'Boobie Soho' my sing and fling character, so we decided to use this one instead. Turns out Emerald looks AMAZING with bright red hair!

With the makeup styling we wanted to go for an Egyptian/Indian inspired heavy Kohl line look, but with much more colour and as always, added sparkle. Then we piled on the jewellery, a necklace and anklet on her forehead, and a necklace and bracelet where intended. All with green stones to tie into the green makeup.

As the styling came together it became apparent that she had now gone through 'Bollywood star' and 'Gypsy matriarch' and come out the other side as 'Elven Princess, Emerald of The Ace'. I set about a complete re-think of the lighting and backdrop. I selected a length of dark green/black two tone taffetta embroidered with gold and green leaves to use as a backdrop, to give the images a forest-y fantasy theme (although it then took me nearly an hour to iron all the folds out of it, where it had been crammed in my rather overfull bag of backdrops).

In a previous shoot, (see 'The Orinoco Bitch' blog) I had wanted to recreate moonlight but it wound up being inappropriate for that shoot, but now we were in a forest with a elven princess it seemed the perfect opportunity to resurrect this idea. I used one single Lastolite head with a snoot and wide honeycomb to the left, up high centered on Emerald's face. I pushed the lighting about half a stop over exposed to give high contrast and shining perfect pale skin. The light was angled so it just caught the gold embroidery on the backdrop, making the fabric almost invisible and turning the leaves into golden vines hanging in mid air. I would have liked to lift the light up slightly higher to widen the spot and catch the backdrop to the edges but in my small home studio this was impossible.

Soundtrack to this shoot was Laura Marling and Suzanne Vega, nothing like a bit of modern folk music to bring out your inner gypsy/elf queen, although I have discovered it makes you very uncool to admit you like folk music at all, modern or otherwise. Me, I'm a sucker for a fiddle and a bodhran.

Again this was a very swift shoot once we had done with the styling, which we always take our time over as we enjoy the process. First shot to last Emerald was in front of the camera just 23 minutes and every single shot we took was usable. As myself and Emerald have now done 5 shoots together I think we understand each other. I know her face and how it works with the light and she understands (or humours) my sometimes very odd direction, "stare at the moon like it's falling from the sky", "now look at it like it's asked you to do complicated sums in your head!".

Someone has already asked me if these images were actually lit this way or if they were photoshopped. All I did in editing was a little bit of airbrushing on the skin to even out the tone (harsh directional lighting will always accentuate any red tones or blemishes in the skin). I burnt into the makeup a touch to make it darker and more striking, something I always do, black never comes out truly black in pictures. In the previous shoot (see 'Mina' blog) I had lightened the center of Emerald's eyes a little, but I didn't do anything to them in this one, this is how they actually look when given allot of light.

I am so pleased with these images, she is totally how 'Titania' looked in my head when reading 'A midsummer nights dream' when I was little. There's a touch of the young Liz Taylor circa 'Cleopatra' as well I think, it's that beautiful strong jaw line. All the elements really came together to make this, Emerald's great face, the backdrop, the styling, the lighting. Sometimes things just go well, without the struggle, sadly never when you're on the clock though!

So here they are, let me know what you think

CF
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All Images are (c) Cherryfox® Fine Photography and must not be published or reproduced in any medium without prior written permission from the photographer