1/18/2026 Creation Batch

I started a new painting. I did the raw umber wash in an Edvard Munch style, but I don't know if those marks will make it into the final, colored painting.

I’m still focusing on thinking and drawing in 3D.

DEPTH AND GIRTH.

THREE SIDES VISIBLE.

ETC., ETC.

I must understand the body as a barren, physical object, stripped of all meaning and symbolism, before I can start coating it with emotion and all the fluffy goodness.

Any time I’m drawing nudes, especially when vulvas are the focus, I find myself wondering at what point the portrayal of a nude body is considered vulgar.

When Robert Henri said the nude human body deserves more respect and admiration, was he only concerned with modest, “fine art” poses? Or did he mean everything about a body; from the hair on the head, to the woven muscles of a thigh, all the way into the warm, pink insides?

I don’t think Henri was arguing for modesty. I think he was arguing for a sort of completeness, whether the viewer was comfortable with it or not.

My general rule, as an artist, is that no naked body by itself should ever be considered vulgar or obscene, regardless of the pose. A nude body reenacting the pose of Sandro Botticelli’s Venus and a glamour model on their hands and knees with their butt in the air deserve the same neutrality and the same seriousness from artists and viewers alike. Both are bodies, both occupy space, and both have weight, structure, form, and the beauty of individuality.

Once you move into a nude person interacting with themselves, or multiple bodies interacting with each other, I think you begin to shift into the potential for pornography or a purely erotic genre. At that point, the focus changes. The body stops being primarily an object to observe and starts becoming an action, a narrative, and/or a transaction.

I don’t want to completely eliminate the sexual potential of a body, but I also don’t want to build a piece of artwork solely around it.

Ultimately, I want to ride right on the line between those two areas.

I want the fine art purists to say I’m too explicit to be considered art, and the hardcore erotic fans to say that I’m not hardcore enough.

This is the full text post from my Patreon, but only includes a few, low quality examples of my recent creations. To see the full gallery of works from this post, check out my Patreon!