When I was a child, my mother took life drawing classes and brought home all of her work. She would proudly show it to her children presenting her sketches of the nude female form as art. When it came time to have a discussion about sex, out came the life drawings and I learned all about the human anatomy from her artistic expression.
Her friends from school would visit and once they discovered the drawings and started giggling and making jokes. I immediately waltzed up and demanded they treat the drawing with respect because they weren’t pictures of naked women, they were art.
I have used this artistic lens to witness the natural beauty of women and it has informed every relationship I have ever had. There is beauty in every curve and wrinkle. Every stretch mark indicates experience and there is no such thing as the ideal size, shape or color. When I cast a gaze upon a woman, it is not lust, it’s exploration and discovery. Though it may lead to lust, it always begins from a position of admiration.
Painting by Georgia O’Keeffe – Inside Red Canna
Sketches are my own life drawings.