Some things just fit nicely

I know erotic art isn’t for some people. I know they’d rather have a nice lakeland scene on their walls, or maybe a still life, something floral in pink maybe. That’s fine, I’m perfectly happy with that, and will happily paint whatever their favourite subject is, for them. And tactfully keep off the subject of erotic art, if it upsets them. I does for some, and it’s not for me to judge. And I always say that I’ll paint anything, I just love to paint whether its tree trunks or human ones.

But for others, erotic art is just the sort of thing they love, and want to look at, and love to see. And its part of my job to find those people, I was just about to add that they’re probably not in the W.I but then I remembered that I’d done a talk to Milton W. I a few years ago about that very subject, and then I thought I’d say that they’re probably not the sort of people who go to the local library either, and remembered that I did a talk back in March about being an erotic artist there too in Burton on Trent. Ok then, erotic art is more acceptable in far more main stream areas than it ever used to be. But, I also know that there will be more concentrated pockets of places where they are more likely to be, and its for me to search those places out.

And, that’s exactly what I found at the weekend.

A place where it is normal to see nudity, but its not compulsory, a place where people are friendly and welcoming about seeing the human form in all its shapes and sizes, and aren’t judgemental about size, gender, sexuality, age, race, or ability. So long as all of that is done with respect and pleasantness.  In fact, all the things that I try to advocate in my job too!

I had taken a selection of work along to hang there, since I wasn’t exactly sure what sort of work the manager wanted on his walls. In the end it was his wife who made the decisions anyway, along with the sales manager. They only turned down one of the pieces – a Fantasy Fanny painting, as being inappropriate for their venue, and I could understand that, but had taken it anyway since it would have been sods law that if I hadn’t have taken it, and mentioned it in passing then they’d have probably wanted me to have done! But still, the other five pieces of art were a good selection of my work, and covered every aspect of my erotic art – pencil drawing in white on black card, the Tree of Life print that everyone can see is clever and has so much hidden within it, a couple of brightly coloured acrylic bodies, both male and female, and an oil painting featuring female forms. Something for everyone I felt, and they agreed. We had a walk around the main area and eventually agreed on the places to site the paintings, where we were all happy they would be seen, and not in the way, and wouldn’t come to any harm – no, I said,  the jacuzzi area was not a good place to put them, not without half a dozen layers of varnish on them to protect the canvas and wooden struts of the paintings, and certainly not anything with glass, they’d have been dripping with water and ruined within a day of being there, so I put my foot down on that one! The sales manager and I hung them between us, which was the easiest hanging I’ve ever done since I’d spent most of Friday afternoon putting mirror plates on the paintings, and the walls there are all wooden cladding and the screws holding them in went in with ease on each attempt. The minute the paintings were up, they had an audience, people came to look at them, and stated their preference, the usual thing of “I like this one!” and “I love this effect!” and “I can see what message you’re getting across with this painting!” and a “I’ll pose for you!” said with a grin, and accepted with one, by me. The world where erotic art is acceptable, and nudity is normal (and before you ask, no, I was wearing jeans, a long sleeved top, and trainers!). The nudity may be normal, but so is wearing everyday clothes there, its all down to personal choice. Or the weather. And November is chilly! 🙂

I’d had a conversation earlier with a woman there, who had also called in on business, to sell the idea of her networking website for all things erotic, and went over to introduce myself and explain that  I was an erotic artist and was interested in the idea of advertising on her site. We talked, both of us passionate about our work, working in the  erotic world, and both liked the sound of the other’s dedication, forthrightness (is that a word?) and desire for the world to know more about our business – both knowing that its links, networking, PR, promotion, and word of mouth that is the best of adverts for customers, and shook hands pretty sure in the knowledge we’d probably come across each other again even though she is mostly based in Germany and London, even though the venue was in Kent, and I come from Leicestershire, even though there are a lot of people in our business, its still a small world. She’s just exhibited at Erotica, where I exhibited a couple of times in the last few years, and when I mentioned a couple of people’s names connected with there, she knew them, and had spoken recently to one. So, its a small world, this erotic one. But one I love to be in.