HNT #16: Shadow Sides

I'm awake way too late, to the point where I'm sort of giddy. I've been doing that a lot lately. I spend time puttering about doing this or that, and here I am awake at the most vulnerable hour of the night. Steve hasn't come home yet. He's been working kerwonky hours, pushed by project deadlines. I'm not necessarily staying up for him, but I suppose there's a semi-conscious wish to share his schedule. Tonight actually is his night to spend time with his beloved Krissy...so she too perhaps is awake during the witching hour.

Tonight I was gathering the materials for a Dharma School project. (Buddhist Sunday School.) I have sand, little polished rocks, miniature rakes, and not quite enough cardboard jewelry boxes for miniature zen gardens. I got the dollhouse rakes off ebay, in sets with mini hoes and shovels. They were the best buy...maybe I'll turn around and sell the extra pieces. I also got molds for fimo for tiny Buddhas, Kwan Yins, or lotus flowers. I didn't stop there, but bought a mold for me, turtles, and a mold for Krissy, an acorn. I've never worked with fimo, or rather sculpey, before. I need to bake some pieces to show the kids some examples. (They will mold their buddha figure, but take them home to bake.) As long as I'm baking, I'll try out that turtle mold, I thought.

Turtles have been of special significance to me. I once was one who hid. A hard shell kept me from even knowing myself, but it was through my Buddhist practice that layers of this shell dissolved. A vision years ago during meditation led me to turtles as my totem. I honor their presence in my life, including the gift of a living turtle that I've had for around ten years.

Then, I figured, as long as I am up this late, I may as well get my Half Naked Thursday photo posted. I was inspired by Regal's delightful raspberry, I hope she likes being emulated.

Shadows help bring definition to life, don't they?

Click through for the full photo:

3 29 07

HNT #15: A Guest Artist

My friend Sean did indeed create a drawing from my HNT photo last week. He has a common first name for a last name, and I inadvertently used the last when I meant to say the first in an email. He let it go by without comment...maybe he gets that a lot.

I asked him how long it took him, for this a quick one, or for one of his more detailed ones. He said, "Time is kind of hard to say because one of the reasons I do it is to make time go away. :)" He added this probably took him about ten minutes.

Click through for the full drawing:

For more of Sean's womanly drawings, go here and here.

For the original Half Nekkid Thursday, go here.

HNT #14: The Artistry of Nudes

There is a history in art of placing models in unusual positions. I don't know much about art or art history, just know what I've seen. In some cases I imagine it's been to convey movement, or there must be some symbolic meaning to it. I often think they do it because they can. There's a tension between the purity of the artistry and the sensuality of the nude body. I was inspired to try this by my friend Sean, who went to see a film on Edward Weston and his model-turned-wife, Charis Wilson. Sean's post included a nude of Charis, her head turned away, neck exposed, knees to her face, exquisite curve of leg and echoes of lines. Sean has been taking drawing classes, drawing furiously, and has a standing request for photos of bodies that he can draw.


I thought I'd see how close I could come to imitating the beautiful Charis's position. Not very, of course. I don't even begin to suggest I am trying to create fine art photography. Half the battle is setting the timer and getting in front of the camera. I can see though I can do some exploration here. The other half of the battle is choosing. It is hard for a fat women to look at her body in an artistic way. Well, most of us women in this fat-phobic society cannot look at our bodies clearly. Our eyes zoom to the imperfections. The karma of our history with food and perceptions and nasty comments cloud the clarity to see. I have long noticed it is much easier for me to see the beauty in another fat woman before I can see it in myself.


I had to play a little trick on myself to choose the photo. I had to pretend it wasn't me when I looked at the collection of ten. I pretended I didn't know about the strain I could see in my face as I'd tried to twist my legs up to my face, an impossible task given the bulk of my body. There are times I can be pretty bendy, but there are still the limitations of physical space. I pretended I was someone else looking at this cushy human body for proportionate lines and aesthetic groupings of shapes. I pretended I wasn't hearing the chorus of viewers, "God, look how fat she is! How can she show herself here?" I pretended I was an artist looking for an interesting picture. I thought this one echoed the lines and parallel curves of the inspiration photo, after a fashion. I don't have much to go on when it comes to nudes of large women. I have the book, Women En Large. There are Leonard Nimoy's, discovered a few weeks ago. I still hesitate to show this, but heck, why take myself so seriously? It's not like I'm going to go on American Idol. ...speaking of which, what a woman does with her body should have no bearing on whether she can be on that show, like that show has some high moral ground.


Perhaps a future HNT will be Sean's drawing? Perhaps I will explore in the future what I can do to find aesthetic lines and curves of art in this body that so few artists do. Maybe Sean can give me some ideas, being the one taking art classes...


Click on the cropped image for the full photo: