Double trouble

The smaller one of these just wasn’t working out, the hand and foreshortening beat me so I started again and I’m so glad I did, the colours and pose are working so much better in the bigger one. Painting satin is so satisfying, it’s bliss! I had no idea how different the colours were in the two paintings until they were side by side. Wish it would dry, I’m itching to carry on!

Angry people of the internet

I wonder who they are, these randomly angry people who live on my screen. Over time I seem to have found a way to avoid them at source- the fountain of righteous fury.. I have two settings- the first absurdly tolerant and nurturing with a desperate need for understanding of even strangers’ motivation and emotions, the second- angry headmistress. The point at which I switch isn’t easy to predict but it’s often when I’m challenged about my motives or rudely propositioned by someone with serious entitlement issues.

I’m sure I get more than my fair share of messages in uppercase lettering. Without the internet I’m sure I’d get red ink letters. But why? What is it these people get out of relentlessly hunting down things they don’t like and getting themselves in a state about it?  I understand the need to see the other side of an argument. I watch documentaries about genocide, read articles about cruelty, listen to Pink Floyd or Justin Bieber songs. Not for fun but because I like to have knowledge about these things rather than turn away or not be able to an express an informed opinion.

Why though do people go out of their way to seek out political, religious or sexual subjects where perfectly rational lucid people discuss issues only ro ramble incoherently in capital letters. At least formulate a calm and reasoned argument, or frankly it looks ridiculous and lessens any valid point you might have. Don’t stalk me on facebook waiting for me to post up a picture with a flash of nipple so you can report it, don’t make new profiles with stock photos of shiny models so you can scream at me in capital letters, you’re not going to change my mind on anything that way. Tell me calmly using whole sentences exactly what it is about my work which upsets you or why you think it makes me a bad person and I’ll do my best to understand.

Then I’ll tell you why you’re wrong

How to take your own photos for erotic art

I found it really hard to choose pictures for this post as generally the photos behind my work are unseen, I prefer them to be a mystery. I mainly work to commission and I wanted to share a post to help my female customers produce their own amazing images so they  really have a piece of artwork to be proud of. Not just that though- I’m happy for other artists to share this with their own potential models and for people to use this advice for their own photos however they like to use them. I’m sure the advice works the same for men, it’s just that I prefer painting girls.

If you can, find an open minded girlfriend or gay best friend who doesn’t fancy you. That’s the easiest option, not the only one. If someone fancies you the session might get heated and you won’t get so many pictures. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, just less productive It saves as much running about if you use a self timer and it’s really good fun.

Don’t worry, these photos are yours and they’ll stay yours. My commission work remains private and any pictures you send me will be destroyed. You can cut your face off any photos you send me, if you don’t like something just tell me to leave it out. There are many stages before you commit to something and it’s a fluid process in which we work together to make the best painting we can. Relax. Have a drink if you want to. Laugh, definitely. My best paintings are not from photo sessions where everything was deadly serious, believe me

Send me some photos if you like, any more tips you need just ask me. I can find some lovely erotic photoraphy sites for you to get inspiration from. Even if you don’t want a painting- the next time you try to distract your lover in the office by sending them a picture it’ll be one to remember

Peachy!

I’ve been revisiting my pile of discarded/unfinished work. Some have been destroyed, I’ve even finished others. When I unwrapped this one I discovered a new love for it. I don’t know why I didn’t like it or what I thought it needed, it’s sweet and dreamy. Hopefully somebody will feel the same and take it home.

Girls, help me out

I really want you to get behind me on this. Before I start, I want to stress that I’m going to be making generalisations. Even I can find exceptions, but I’ll be using evidence for my arguments that what I’m saying is largely true, and I’m really asking for feedback on this one.

Current stats on alt.com, this is better than other sites because I think generally women are more involved in alternative sex sites because they have more to offer them..

When I clicked through, the one woman online by that  time had 72 viewers, the man at the top of the list had one, the rest none. I always use that as a very direct illustration. Women don’t watch as much porn as men- you knew that, right?

Even here in blogland most people come upon my blog by certain search terms- that’s why I use the tags! I exist within a world which already has it’s rules and standards and expectations. I can’t have things my way. But I really want to tell you how I wish it could be.

The reason women don’t search for porn is due to experience. It excludes us, we have to search too hard to find something we’d like, even then we’ll have encountered countless gynaecological pop ups in the search for fetish art or classy erotic photos. I know men who feel the same. The woman who likes cheesy gynaecological porn is about as rare as that one woman watching the guy in the cam room. (And that woman is probably a man)

I really absolutely don’t want to see an orange hard-faced man having sex with a girl two generations younger just because he has an unusual ability to keep hard during the photo/camera session. And if I see it I turn off the pc and go watch eastenders. I don’t need an up close biology lesson or another picture of a girl getting a facial.

There is a problem which leads to a fundamental division I can’t do anything about. It’s hard to fight my corner, my argument for “erotic art” when it too often comes under a banner which automatically includes everything from basic hustler porn to bizarre and unpleasant hardcore which most people search for because they’re looking for revulsion or something to ridicule.

Just as the meek naturist couples often have to share space with oil basted exhibitionists- they feel the same, if they were to try to show people how innocent it is they’d have to take them to a place where they’re more likely to see public masturbation than anywhere else in the country and their argument would be instantly invalid.

And that’s how I feel. For all this time I’ve been trying to work out how to reach women. I so want to spend my days telling girls how to take amazingly erotic photos of themselves which they and anyone else they can choose to show will find stunning/ sexy/ empowering. Because I know that women feel that their sexuality has to be hidden. They don’t want to be associated with a kind of pornography which is about abuse. Many guys visiting prostitutes don’t ask if the girl has been trafficked-  or so many of them wouldn’t be, they don’t ask for credentials of the girl in the videos they look at.

There’s a fantastic article in the guardian about the differences between the viewers of male and female strippers. It’s a perfect illustration of the polar extremes.

I want a middle ground so that average women (not swingers, not those responding to the desires of their partner) can enjoy erotic images without being visually assaulted by things that will turn them right off) Scarlet magazine was great- informative, clever, erotic, it’s gone. Thank god for Ann Summers and internet sex shops.

Women are never going to find me, if they do they’ll be frightened I’m a guy wanting to perv over their photos.

I want a world where women understand that guys will always look at girls and that’s no threat, but where we can meet them half way.

I’ve asolutely nothing against porn, nothing against nudists, nothing against swingers. I just want my audience to reach further than that into the wider public. Somewhere between those and the high art world is everyone else, my target market.

But if it doesn’t happen soon I’ll give up the commission part of my work, give up social networking and concentrate on my own work which I’ll sell through galleries.

Is there any hope? I don’t know