Naked

I'm currently working on a number of works for an upcoming show in March. The show is for those students who did well in the Fall Portfolio Review at my college, and it's off-campus at a local community arts center. I am so totally cool with that. I love to show off my art.

However.

And it is something of a however.

Not a but. Because, as it turns out, but(t)s are a bit problematic.

The people who run the venue are a bit on the conservative side. Prof B. -- who was the one who informed me that I was included in the show (yay!) -- also informed me that they specified no nudes.

Ulp.

I am, primarily, a figural artist. I love the figure. If I could take figure drawing classes every day for the rest of my life, I'd probably be quite happy. It's hard enough that people are reluctant to purchase nudes even though they understand it's artistic, and even admire the image. But to have a venue that won't show nudes, and not because of local ordinances -- that's demoralizing to me.

And they're not the only ones shying away from the nude. I've heard that one of the local colleges won't accept nude figural work for an inter-college show. What the heck is up with that? One of the things that is usually required for a college submission portfolio is figural work. The nude figure has a long and exalted history in art education. And for a college to refrain from hanging figural work . . .

I'm glad -- and lucky! -- that the school I go to is willing to hang nude figural work.

Anyway, if you're still with me, and you remember what I wrote at the very top, I mentioned I'm working on a number of pieces for the upcoming exhibition. I have a body of work, but that body is naked.

Oh, excuse me. Nude. *wink*

Here's something from my sketchbook that I'm going to expand on for the show:

Look Ma -- no breasts. I'm sure she'd be so proud.

On second thought, she'd probably try to have me committed. She's more into staid portraits and still lifes.

First Post

What the hell am I supposed to say? "Hello world"? Um-hm. And I'm sure my shouts and cries would be drowned out in the hullaballoo of the blogosphere.

I thought about it for awhile, what I should post in my initial foray into blogdom. For the longest time I resisted blogging simply because I'm a very private person. But, believe it or not, in my own way, I do crave something of an audience. I'm an artist, and I like showing people my work. I think showing one's work is a very important part of the artistic process. (Or maybe I'm just a show-off.)

So then, a post about this being my first post: Well, I suppose I could just pop one of my pieces up here and say (metaphorically, of course), "Ta-DA! Here's my work!" But that kinda rubs me the wrong way. Blogs, to me, are about writing, even art blogs. And when I write, I like to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. So here is the start of my blog, and I should have a cohesive beginning. Well, I hope it's cohesive. And I really didn't want to start in medias res as if I'd been here all along. I haven't. But I'm here now.

About me, in a nutshell(which makes me the nut): I'm an artist, I live in north Texas. I draw. I paint. I occasionally sculpt very poorly.




A green man sculpture I did about a year or so ago, unglazed stoneware, painted with acrylics.

So, pull up a chair. Pop in occasionally. Look at my art. Comment on it if you feel moved to. And on my end of things, I'll post images of my work as well as works-in-progress. I'll even write about my experience with art. Actually, getting me to shut up would be a bit of effort.

As you can see, I'm still moving in, still learning the ropes. Excuse the mess. At least you can still see the floor.