12 Recent Drawings – Fall, 2020
© 2020 – Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Craftiness and Nakedness
To tell you the truth, I had to be a bit crafty about posting this drawing on Facebook.
Hide and Seek
Do you seek to hide who you are, what you do, what you think? What are the consequences of that? For one, you are protected from having something bad found out, right? Maybe it’s an affair, or spending money on something you shouldn’t, maybe it’s an addiction, or maybe it’s simply hiding what you believe from those who would disapprove. But in all those cases, you have rationalized that it’s important to lie, to be crafty, about what you let people know. It’s for self-preservation after all, right?
Breaking Bad
Recently we started watching the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’. It’s the story of a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a Crystal Meth manufacturer and distributer. He ‘breaks bad’ in a big, big way. The most intense and educational part of the show for me is how he works so hard to hide what it is he is doing from his wife and family. He has good reasons of course, after all is brother in law is a DEA agent, his wife is expecting a baby and his teenage son has Cerebral Palsy. But the price he pays for hiding it all is so immense in both his family life, health and his psyche, that it is painful to watch.
Crafty Manipulation
I have done my own share of crafty manipulation over the decades. I came from an alcoholic mother and father who hid a lot. I developed some of the very same techniques even after I stopped drinking almost 20 years ago. In the past year I have made some rather amazing breakthroughs in that area and it’s felt pretty darn good. My wife and I both have moved to be much more willing to just say the truth and be done with it. I feel much freer and at ease as a result.
Be a Stripper
I don’t know your situation of course, but you might consider being a stripper. Strippin down to tell the truth about who you are, what you do (and why you think you do it) and what you want and need in life. It’s not easy and it could have some serious consequences so it’s not to be done lightly if you do indeed have some secrets. Perhaps you just start with telling the mirror. Even that is liberating, I can tell you that. It is a journey and it’s ok if you aren’t naked right away, but stripping off some false fronts isn’t beyond your capability, and it is a start.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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Trivia of the day
- Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 15,183 (2009)
- Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 24,518 (2009)
An Indecent Post
Nipplegate
The New Yorker posted a funny cartoon online this week. It was taken off Facebook by its censors because it violated the terms of service. The violation was that it showed ‘nipple bulge’. In truth it showed a cartoon Adam and Eve sitting down leaning against a tree. They were naked, as you might expect. The drawing had 2 small ink dashes for Adam’s nipples. Those weren’t violations. Then they had 2 ink dots for Eve’s nipples. Those were violations of the ban on ‘nipple bulge’ (their words, not mine).
Here are the offending and non-offending marks.
- Not Offensive
- Offensive
It is the height of absurdity and The New Yorker wrote their own blog post about it that I think you would get a kick out of.
Then FB reversed it’s decision and decided to allow the cartoon. The New Yorker however did not trust them and so posted an even more inflammatory and provocative cartoon. You can see it if you dare.
NIPPLEGATE – The Exciting Conclusion
I meanwhile, in support of The New Yorker, have posted my own offending marks. They are behind the tree in the drawing above.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Mark Twain
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What Are You Scared Of?
Is It What It Is?
Do you investigate what you are afraid of? Do you purposely move towards it to find out what it is really all about? Read the story below for a great example.
The Naked Waitress and the Cop
Back in the 80s and 90s I taught beginning drawing and figure drawing at various community colleges around San Jose, California. I also was a waiter and manager at a local restaurant there named Eulipia. I asked a fellow waiter if she would want to model for pay for my figure drawing class and she said yes. The class went off without a hitch. A year later I asked her again and she said she wanted to but now had a boyfriend. The boyfriend happened to be a cop. He didn’t know about the modeling from the year before so she wanted to talk to him about it first. She came back a few days later and said she had talked to him and he was fine with it. A week later though she said he had kept asking questions, had said some not so subtle jabs about what he thought she really was doing. She was worried about it which made me worried about it because I needed to make sure I had a model for the class that day. She assured me she would do it regardless of what he said. Great.
The day arrived and we were going to meet where we worked and drive together to the school. When I got there though, she was with her boyfriend and it looked a bit tense. She told me he wanted to talk to me. Great.
He came over and said, ‘I wondered if it is ok if I come along to the drawing class.’
This is not what I was expecting. A jealous, judgmental cop boyfriend watching his new girlfriend disrobe in front of a bunch of people and just stand there naked. I had visions of headlines the next day saying ‘art instructor killed by off duty cop in fit of jealous rage’. Great.
But he then said, ‘I long ago decided that anything I didn’t understand or feared I would face head on and seek to understand it. I want to come to see what really happens in a figure drawing class. She has told me what happens but I still have visions of something bad and dirty. I want to face that and see what it really is.’
How could I argue with that, right? I told him he could come along but he had to stay in the back of the class and not interfere. I told her she had to focus and not be distracted or intimidated by him being there. She understood and he was cool with that so off we went to the class.
The Naked Fear
The class was held at Mission College in Santa Clara. It was a HUGE spaceship style building that screamed intimidation and bulk as you drove up to it. I was sort of feeling that way about this new twist to my simple desire to get a model for my drawing class. Now I had a very bulky and intimidating cop/boyfriend about to sit in on my figure drawing class with his girlfriend as the singular object of close to 30 sets of eyes. Great.
The way it works in a figure drawing class is that the stage is a simple raised platform in the middle of the room. The students sit on benches around the platform and draw from all angles. The model has a place to change and comes out in a robe. He or she get on the platform, takes the robe off and starts to hit various poses. The students have already been instructed as to what they will be doing and they start in on it. We start with very quick poses and move on to longer ones. I call out the time and tell the model to change poses. The first pose might be as short as 20 seconds but most will be 1-5 minutes long for the first session. There will be a break then longer poses, up to 20 minutes towards the end. He or she might be sitting, laying down, standing, stretching, balled up, tense and muscular, draped and sleep-like. I had Katherine go through the poses, never looking over at her boyfriend. She also never got distracted, doing what I asked and being a great model for my students.
The Naked Revelation
When we took our first break Katherine got on her robe and the two of us went over to talk to her boyfriend. Much to my relief he said, ‘I completely get what is going on. It is exactly as she said it would be. I was imagining sexual poses, lascivious ogling but what I saw was a very focused and intense art moment. I am so glad you allowed me to come, I am not at all worried about it now.’ What he saw were the students intense in their work, me busy instructing, reminding & encouraging, and Katherine being deliberate in finding the perfect pose, adjusting if needed and staying as still as possible. What he saw was all of us working very hard.
He was not able to see that in advance. But because he had the guts to face his fear he was able to put the fear aside and see things for what they really were.
What worlds do you fear and don’t understand? What steps are you taking to find out what it’s really all about?
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Drawing and story by Marty Coleman
Inspired by a suggestion of Andrea Myers to address the topic of facing your fears. Thanks Andrea!
Andrea Myers
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Shoe vs Foot – Naked vs Nude #5
I’ll put my foot down and say, It’s the last day of Naked vs Nude week at the NDD!
This drawing and commentary was originally created and written in 2009, but it fit perfectly with the theme so I am using it again.
It is human to decorate oneself, but humanity starts without decoration and that is often forgotten. The puritan impulse that still flows through America and elsewhere looks for something wrong with the unadorned and naked. We do it without being conscious of it, like a remnant racist not being aware of their own prejudice.
A huge industry has made many people a lot of money building on this. I am not talking about pornography, which at least has some semblance of honesty about it. At least you know what they are trying to evoke in a person. I am not defending porn, just stating that we know what it is and what it is trying to do.
I am talking about marketing and advertising. That is the industry that plays us like a fiddle. That is the industry that tells you to look for the skin and in the next breath tells you to cover it up.
What Michelangelo knew was that for all the finery Florence and Rome in the Renaissance could display to the world, it could not outshine the beauty he found in the human body. And considering the fact that his nude sculpture, ‘David’ is probably the single most popular object of any sort from that era, his statement has been proven true.
See the complete ‘Naked vs Nude’ series here.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has a very nice big toe indeed.
Naked as the Day You Were. – Naked vs Nude #4
I was born to tell you – Today is day #4 of Naked vs Nude week at the NDD
I have a serious question, give your thoughts on it. Where and when did the emotion of shame come into the picture for humans and nudity? Why was it shame that Adam and Eve were said to have felt and not anger or fear or happiness or guilt or any of a million other feelings. Why was it shame?
See the complete ‘Naked vs Nude’ series here.
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Drawing and question by Marty Coleman, who is only ashamed of his flabby pot belly. (why is that?)
Quote by Oscar Wilde.
Do You Swim Naked? – Naked vs Nude #2
It would be a bare-ass lie if I didn’t admit it’s day #2 of Naked vs Nude Week at the NDD.
If all the pretenses, lies, masks, decorations, and shiny things of your life were stripped away would you be found to have been swimming naked? Obviously this is a metaphor. It’s not about swimming naked, which is fine and dandy if that’s what you want to do and you don’t scare small children and pelicans. What it is about is whether or not you have substance when your money, your track record, your resume is stripped away.
Since the quote is by Warren Buffett perhaps a financial example is in order. Bernie Madoff had all the bling life could bring. He had the home, reputation, cars, status, resume, business success, wealth and more. But what he did not have was a good and true foundation in character underneath it all. That is the ‘naked’ this quote is really talking about. When it all goes south, what remains?
By the way, in regards to our series title, ‘Naked vs Nude’, imagine this quote using the word nude instead of naked. Wouldn’t quite work, would it.
See the complete ‘Naked vs Nude’ series here.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman who last skinny dipped in 1996.
Quote by Warren Buffett, who, rumor has it, once skinny dipped with Bill Gates after winning a Bridge Tournament.
Do Nudists Have A Fashion Sense? – Naked vs Nude #1
The naked truth is that it’s ‘Naked Vs Nude’ week at the NDD.
When I was in graduate school I read a book called ‘About Looking’ by John Berger. In it he proposes that there is a difference in art between someone who is naked and someone who is nude. Since I have been doing my ‘Artist I Love Winter Weekend’ series I have presented a number of art pieces in the ‘nude’ genre. That got me thinking about this difference between naked and nude that Berger suggests exists. I decided it would be fun to explore the idea with you.
One of the ideas Berger puts forth is that, while nakedness reveals itself, nudity does not. He says, “The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.” So, if nudity is a form of dress, wouldn’t it mean that both women in this drawing have some fashion sense? What do you think?
In particular, within your experience with nudity in art, film, life, do you think there a difference between being naked and being nude? Explain.
haha…By the way, if the clothed woman in this drawing has ‘fashion sense’ maybe being without clothes WOULD be better fashion!
See the complete ‘Naked vs Nude’ series here.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who admits he has been more than once.
Quote by Peter Kunkel, who I think would admit it too.
What Spirit is So Empty
“What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot grasp the fact that a human foot is more noble than a shoe and a the human skin is more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed.” – Michelangelo
It is human to decorate oneself, but humanity starts without decoration and that is often forgotten. The puritan impulse that still flows through America and elsewhere looks for something wrong with the unadorned and naked. We do it without being conscious of it, like a remnant racist not being aware of their own prejudice.
A huge industry has made many people a lot of money building on this. I am not talking about pornography, which at least has some semblance of honesty about it. At least you know what they are trying to evoke in a person. I am not defending porn, just stating that we know what it is and what it is trying to do.
I am talking about marketing and advertising. That is the industry that plays us like a fiddle. That is the industry that tells you to look for the skin and in the next breath tells you to cover it up.
What Michelangelo knew was that for all the finery Florence and Rome in the Renaissance could display to the world, it could not outshine the beauty he found in the human body. And considering the fact that his nude sculpture, ‘David’ is probably the single most popular object of any sort from that era, his statement has been proven true.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com