Not the only one …
From time to time we hear from an artist manqué who is so pleased and relieved to have found us that they are moved to write and express their gratitude. They’re not the only person in the world who longs for an intelligent and sensitive version of intimacy and eroticism.
So it was that Dave from British Columbia in Canada got in touch with us, with the email below and a selection of his drawings and paintings. For an amateur artist they’re pretty good, and above all are his personal and heartfelt attempts to create artistic substance for his dreams. He is very happy for us to share his words and images with everyone, and to support and encourage others in their own individual explorations. So be brave and, like Dave, follow your dreams!
I am so glad to have found your website! I never would have thought to look for ‘honest erotica’, though I might have searched for ‘sincere sensual art’ or something similar.
I have been drawing since I was a young teenager. It was a book of beautiful Modigliani nudes that got me started, and though I got in trouble for rendering imaginary figures in a geography class, my art teacher supported me and minimised my ‘offence’. She encouraged me to attend her life-drawing classes, which introduced me to the realities of human nakedness. I remember noticing a pink splotch – due to pressure while posing – on the model’s behind, which struck me as particularly genuine – the sort of thing you don’t usually see in porn magazines!
Nothing represents, neither then nor now, my emotional turmoils and joys as much as the naked human form. For me the dynamic is intensified when more than one person is portrayed.
I don’t believe it’s fair or accurate to describe a human being just as a physical entity. In recent years, as I’ve grown older and I hope more mature, I’ve become more and more comfortable with the temporary nature of our physical accoutrements and with the ultimate truth that we are, each and all, spirit-souls on a conditional sojourn to the dream world of this planet.
It’s all a dance while we are here, but my own dancing tendencies were curtailed at a young age when a friend and I were scolded for dancing naked on a chicken coop. The public display of naked human flesh has sadly been designated legally obscene, while true intimate physical love without clothing is usually expressed in private. I am so grateful that I can see, draw and paint. I can do my dancing, my emoting, on paper and canvas. May the world grow up enough to appreciate and respect the beauty of humanity, as it is when not adorned with the trappings of convention and commercial pressure.
How wonderful it is to discover that I am not alone, not the only one who is moved to make such imagery and self-expression. It becomes possible when the ‘alphabet’ of the human form is familiar to an artist who also has sexual feelings and/or experiences.
I live in Canada, which seems pretty darned conservative place to be for someone who draws and sometimes paints human sexuality. As a result I have done less that I otherwise would have. Now I am 72 years of age and slowing down, but I always remember that I am a human and must be wise enough not to expect impossible things of myself and my creative output. This world has become so damned monetised and hypocritical that many are tempted to try and squeeze dollars out of their giftedness at the expense of their sincerity, candour and inherent simplicity.
So, it’s very good to have found you all. The human form has its dignity and place, and sexuality is part of relationship and intimacy. Of course I have seen drawings that others have done in this regard, but never before have I seen a website or community dedicated to artists’ right to express themselves along these lines without being accused of pornographic intent. Pornography is garbage, trading love for money. Doesn’t work for me!