Hello friends new and old,
How are you? Have you been up to anything insteresting this month? Me? Oh, well thank you so much for asking, I’ve been working on some silly little projects I want to share with you, now that I’ve finally managed to compile them into a newsletter. I don’t know why it was so hard to write anything at all these last two weeks, but it felt like pulling teeth to start with.
On the polar opposite end, I’ve got the painting bug and I’ve been churning ‘em out like nobody’s business.
My love for oil paints is deeper than the ocean and more passionate than your mom last night. I never really understood why people tend to talk about them like they’re a particularly difficult material to work with, especially in comparison to other paints; I always thought oils were the easiest way to create smooth gradients, and since they take millennia to dry, they are much more forgiving with any mistakes or corrections you feel the need to make. In a state like Colorado, where acrylic paint dries up completely the moment you look away from it, I find oil paints much easier to work with. Nowadays, there’s plenty of options for water-soluble “oil” paints, which removes the need for paint thinner and all the fumes that come with that; by my reckoning, they handle the same way as traditional oil paints, so I highly recommend them for any skill level.
(That being said, the picture with the roses is acrylic, don’t come at me)
The original paintings and prints of them will be available on my Etsy as they are completed, so keep an eye out! So far, only the skull one is complete, and the roses will likely be next.
As far as more cohesive projects go, I’ve started making another zine and I’mplaying with the idea of making a coloring book version as well. The project is called “Tender” and I swear it’s not just an excuse for me to draw a lot of naked people canoodling.
I thought it’d be nice to gather up and expand on a collection of drawings I have of trans and queer people being naked and comfortable together, and compile it in a convenient package. Here’s a draft of the cover and a couple of pages. NOTE that I haven’t included anything too risque here, but the project is going to be NSFW because I cannot stop drawing cool genitals and fluids — there will be copious amounts of both.
At its core, the project is about celebrating and embracing queer intimacy – there’s nothing in that which dictates it has to be 99% nudies, but I’m pretty firm on doing that anyway for a few reasons. Obviously, I’m obsessed with the human body and all its curves and lumps and bumps and ridges and angles; it only takes a minute and one working eye to figure that out. But also because genitals are often a big point of insecurity and of mystery, even to trans people. I remember trying to do some research before starting testosterone and I couldn’t find any visual examples of what bottom growth looked like beyond in a couple of amateur pornos; the lack of a point of reference made the whole endeavor a lot more nerve-wracking for me. There are some resources and spaces online where trans people share post-operative pics, but I really wasn’t able to find any useful, visual portrayals of bottom growth before starting testosterone myself. I felt like it was ~weird~ for a long time and was pretty insecure about it before I got more involved with other trans people at various points in medical transition. Obviously, this zine is not an educational resource, but I’m keen on the idea of trans bodies in every shape and at every stage not being something to feel ashamed of, and part of that comes from exposure. So that’s a very long-winded and unwarranted explanation on why I will be including so, so many lovingly drawn vaginas. You’ve been warned and promised.
tl;dr: maybe you wouldn’t be so mystified by trans people or insecure in your own trans body if you got to see the various forms of boy pussy more often. Also, it looks cool.
Other than some basic updates to improve functionality on the website, that’s basically what I’ve been up to! Here’s an encounter I had over coffee recently:
Enamored by him. Stay warm out there!