you need to take more nudes

for nobody but yourself — artists and the art of undressing

i was gonna make this a whole thing, but it’s actually really, really simple. if you’re a human and you’re creating literally anything at all, your ability to see, feel, and love your body is integral to the process.

as i’ve said on many occasions, art is, at its heart, an erotic process.

SO, if you’re not willing to be with your naked body, you have a lot to learn.

you’re missing a huge part of the experience that would make your art richer, more honest, more chewy, more… just MORE. you know. cause you’re always longing for more, aren’t you?

forget crystal dildos, forget tantric orgasms. forget sacred sexuality or anything that even suggests penetration. start with the skin. lest we forget, the skin our largest organ, is pleasure rich, is an entryway to awakening what lies beneath… but that’s a post for another day.

i digress.

if you literally cannot stand to look at your naked body, there’s your entry point.

if you only get naked for sex (okay or showering), if you only get naked with the intention to please another person, if you get naked and hide yourself as quickly as possible…

darling, you have work to do.

and here it is: get in front of the mirror, or the camera, and start LOOKING.

learn to see yourself. learn to see beauty in your physical presence. i promise Aphrodite will be looking upon you in pleasure and approval.

per Anaïs Nin, “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” but more precisely, we see the world as we see ourselves. as in, if we avoid looking at ourselves through a lens of beauty, love, and “you’re a fucking masterpiece,,” we avoid looking at the world this way too. we don’t see the creative possibilities all around us. we don’t see the subtle nuances that make a thing gorgeous. we don’t see the magic in the strange and subtle moments, just as we don’t see the magic in our uniquely delicate curves, the soft skin on our belly, or the way our smile is a little crooked on one side.

all of these observations hold the potential for deep pleasure and self connection. but you’ll never feel it if you won’t feel yourself.

i shared recently that one of my most used practices when i’m feeling down is self portraits. it’s hard to overstate how powerful this is. to stare yourself in the face or the belly or the breasts or the pussy when you feel like shit. it’s hard. it’s emotional. it’s sometimes overwhelming. it’s counterintuitive. it seems a little unhinged…

and yet, it’s one of the most healing practices i’ve ever experienced.

because though it appears to begin on the skin, it goes far deeper, to the core of your fears, anxieties — it goes to your resistance against your most natural state of being. undressed. erotic, in touch, touched by your own beauty..

imagine everything you might confront facing the challenge of loving yourself head on, in your most vulnerable state.

imagine how different you might feel out in the world having embraced your body, your beauty, when all you wanted to do was tear yourself to shreds.

imagine how this might change the way you are with a lover.

imagine, in any moment, not being stuck in your head wondering if your body looks weird or wrong or gross, having proven to yourself (you have photo evidence remember) that actually, you’re a goddamn masterpiece. imagine how much more you'd experience.

imagine.