An embarrassment? Me??

I forget sometimes that I can inadvertently cause embarrassment to people - especially some people I know.......

On Saturday I went out to dinner with some close friends, well actually they are more like extended family, and as we did the "How've you been? and how's the family?" catch-up questions, I was told by the woman that she had had to side-step some difficult questions that her father had asked her recently. He knows me well enough too, and she had told him, in passing, some weeks ago, that I was exhibiting in London. This caused her a lot of problems. Because she wasn't expecting him to be SOOOO interested! Where in London? he wanted to know? Which gallery?What sort of subject matter? What sort of paintings? and then after the exhibition, he asked how I'd got on and asked what sort of people went there? And which paintings I'd sold? She found herself changing the subject quickly, to get him on to something else. Because she knew, and HE didn't, that I was exhibiting at Erotica at Olympia, and the art was erotic, and the buyers were buying erotic art, and I'd taken my "Fantasy fannies" paintings to show. This made me hooooowwl with laughter!!!!!!! Because, this is an extremely capable and confident woman in her late 50's who is suddenly side-stepping the awkward questions from her father in his mid 80's!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, he didn't know ANYTHING about the erotic art, and presumed that my art was of the landscape, portrait, animal type, that he probably, vaguely, thought I do (Well, I do, as well, but I DO DO the other erotic stuff TOO!!!!!!).

And that reminded me the other week when I was with another close woman friend, and she said that she had had her parents over for lunch recently, and her mother had gone around her house to view some new decorating she'd had done. And as she had had a look around, my friend had SUDDENLY remembered that she has one of my paintings hanging on her wall upstairs. And a cold wave of panic enveloped her as she thought of her mothers reaction if she saw this painting. So as they walked around upstairs, she quickly changed the subject, and managed to manoeuvre them downstairs out of harms way so that the picture couldn't be viewed. And this made me howl with laughter too - because this is also an extremely capable, confident woman in her late 50's whose mother is in her early 80's!

But whereas these tales are amusing me, I can also understand that its easier for them to avoid the subject to avoid the embarrassment.

I think I sometimes forget that others get embarrassed at some of the work I do. They like my art, and are happy with it in their lives, its just that its easier not to involve some others in it (like elderly parents!).

Sometimes I draw people, and they are embarrassed at the thought of the image I'm doing of them. But I've drawn a lot of non vanilla subjects, its the nature of being an Erotic Artist. But the thing is, I don't think "This is sexual, and maybe a bit kinky and maybe I'm a bit embarrassed" - I think "Mmm....... where is the composition with these items, where is the light coming from, where are the negative shapes, what colours should I use, where is the focal point, and would it be better if the feather was stuck in her hair, rather than where it is................?

Which reminds me of a joke:

What's the difference between erotic and kinky?
Erotic is when you use a feather during sex, kinky is when you use the WHOLE chicken! :)

Vanilla land hiding Spice world

I've had some very candid and interesting conversations recently with a variety of individuals that has led on to me thinking about the different lifestyles that people have. The majority of the populace seem to live ordinary lives, doing the usual vanilla things that make up their world, and consider that any pictures concerning people in any state of undress are basically disgusting, and they'd far rather have a pretty landscape hanging on their wall any day. A very few extrovert people like to live alternative lives, and are happy to advertise to the world their various kinks and fetishes and don't care who knows. Then there is the other group - the ones who appear on the surface to be vanilla but underneath, hidden away in the depths and recesses of their lives, they have kinks and fetishes and dark desires too, and like the spice that makes up the variety in their lives, but can't afford for the rest of the people in their world to find out. So they keep it secret. They're the interesting people... with fascinating diverse secrets, and they're the ones I've been talking to recently about erotic art, fantasies and fetishes. They tell me their desires, and I'd love to paint them......

I was told once, by a guy who did a lot of work in the houses of celebrities and rich people, that famous people with lots of money have whatever sexual or pornographic art they want on the wall because they're not concerned about what the neighbours or Mother-in-law will think. They do it because they can. And we probably all would, too, in their position. So, is the art we put on our walls, what interests us? Or what we think we should be showing to the visitors to our homes?