Red Region Inferno

The Wanton Wednesday theme for this week was to create an animated gif  with photos of yourself.
This was what I came up with.

I have never made animated gif before and though I probably have some software on one of my computers that does it, I just looked online for an animated gif maker (which I didn’t even know existed online) like Lilly suggested. I used gickr.com and they automatically put a little .com stamp on it. I don’t mind though. It is a sweet and easy way to make an animated gif. If I would have known though I would have made the RedRegionInferno.com text a tad smaller so it wouldn’t have overlapped.
(see note at bottom of post)

The animated gif above was my third attempt
My first was done with unedited photos, but I thought it was way to PORN for this blog.
My next one was done with images I had run through some photo editor skins and looked like this next picture.

I actually liked this one, but once it was set to moving it was creepy looking.
It also just looked super dorky. I don’t mind looking dorky myself, but I prefer my cock to look handsome and desirable.

The one I went with I thought looked awesome.
The pictures I used to put it together are pretty old, but I know the girl in them peeks at this blog every once in a full moon… so I am wondering if she will see them and recognize that it is her.
If she does I think she will get a smile out of it.
On the other hand I cropped in so close that maybe she wont recognize herself or somebody else will think it is them.
I am half expecting a half dozen or so “Was that me?” type questions over the next month or so as I randomly run into people.

If you wonder why I always stamp my images with the domain they are on… it is because people hotlink the heck out of certain ones and eat my bandwidth. They also grab and re-post them sometimes. I really don’t care as long as people link back, but they rarely do. I stamp them though so that people will know where they came from even when credit isn’t given. Problem solved.
With my domain on it I am digging when people re-post my stuff. It is a compliment in a way. I still prefer a source/credit link, but I know that is not how the majority of the Internet works.
The Internet is about sharing. I would not post anything online that I would freak out about people taking/using. I expect it even. I just like credit where credit is due.
If you too have issues with people grabbing your images without giving credit I suggest you start branding your pictures too.

As an extra mention on that subject… for me it adds credibility to a site when I see credits given.
If you are one of those people who grab images/video/text off of other sites regularly and don’t give credit… maybe you should.

I have been pumping out an average of three erotic themed paintings a week since the beginning of the year. My mind is going soft from it. Sexy stuff brain fry.
I tried putting a few unfinished large canvases up on the easel to get away from it, but they are unfinished and piled against a wall for a reason it seems.
Good stuff that needs done when the feeling hits is what they are.
Most the crap I just paint over with white and then do something new.

I needed to release myself from sex themed hell.
I needed to just whip something out that didn’t matter and could suck.

So… This is what I made.

It is my wife. She doesn’t like it it and not just because I did it super fast in a cheesy illustrative, fantasy, romance graphic novel or card game style.
Nope, she doesn’t even hate it because it is so small and she says my small stuff all sucks.
She hates it because of the overall feeling and her expression.

I asked if she wanted me to rosy it up for her, but she said that wouldn’t have help. Even when I told her it would only take ten minutes or so to completely re-do her flesh tones into something not so ethereal she said no.
I said it would take me another ten or fifteen to warm the background and re-curve the mouth and eyes resulting in a whole new look… nope.
My cheesy little break from sexy art got a bad review. I should have just tossed it in the garbage after I was done, but my daughter had seen it and loved it “That’s mommy!” so I didn’t.

The Painting:
8″x10″ on a stretched canvas with acrylics.
I first did a rough pencil sketch on the canvas of my wife’s face and then painted in the background.
Didn’t really know what I planned with the background so I started with a river scene. You can tell how that went over I’m sure.
F the river… I painted over it real fast with the branches. I never even got rid of the river first.
I then painted her a little shirt and did the flesh.
I’d planned on wasting just a couple hours, but Mary Poppins had started right about when I started the painting and now it had finished. (My daughter was watching it)
I blame my time wasting on the river fiasco. (It was a fiasco to me)
Anyways… I finished up the flesh and did the hair and pretty daisy chain. I love painting hair. I love drawing hair. It is just fun as can be. It is so fluid. Painting water isn’t fluid, but hair is. Ain’t that strange.
Overall I ended up pretty much wasting half a day making this stupid picture that my wife disliked so much.
Yup… just to clear my mind.

Back to painting pictures of foot kissing.

So this chick comes in and she is a big fan of the group TOOL and also (as many TOOL fans are) a fan of Alex Grey’s artwork.
She want’s these eyes tattooed on her.
I do it.

While tattooing her she says she say on the artists site that he doesn’t allow tattoos of his work or some such thing.
I say it is personal expression, fuck that.
I went to his site alexgrey.com and clicked his use of images link.
Holy crud… he does go on about tattoos (and everything else under the sun)
TATTOOS:
For no fee, you may have a tattoo made from Alex’s art under the following conditions:
1) Employ the best possible artist who is capable of rendering the best reproduction of the work and thereby giving the most beautiful results.
2) Send a good quality photo of the finished tattoo with your name to info@alexgrey.com. (work in progress photo also requested but optional).
3) Grant free use of the photo of your tattoo for any subsequent publication approved by Alex Grey.
I create art. I do it for my lively hood. I may not be as famous as Alex Grey and therefore not as ripped off as him, but my stuff does get jacked pretty often. Just yesterday I found a site selling crap prints of five of my paintings without permission and with nothing going to me. The battle must ensue, I am constantly dealing with stupid stuff like that.
I have even received advertisements in the mail trying to sell me my own poorly copied tattoo flash designs for MY shop. (That has happened multiple times) People are thieves.
Alex Grey has been ripped off tons, I’ve seen it, and he is obviously paranoid about it because he has a HUGE page yakking about copyrights, use, credits, etc…
Still, he does get that without fans and grassroots promotion an artist is nothing.
He does allow some use.

For example:
LIMITED USE ON A WEBSITE:
You are permitted to use ONE image on your personal (non-commercial) web site with the following stipulations.
1. A link to AlexGrey.com must be visible WITH the image.
2) The image used must be no larger than 400 pixels/ 3 inches in either dimension.

2) Images MAY NOT be used on the homepage.

3) Images MAY NOT be used as backgrounds, cropped, or otherwise presented in a manner which obscures the entire image in any way.

4) Images may not be used on web sites deemed inappropriate.

5) Images may not be modified, colored, animated, adapted, collaged, used as a graphic design element, or altered in any way.

To use an image as an Avatar:

1) Images must not exceed 200 pixels in any dimension

2) Images used must have the Alex Grey web site address plainly visible (alexgrey.com). If the requested and approved image is not already available with the URL text as described, we will create one for use under the terms of agreement.

3) Images may not be modified, colored, animated, or used as an element in a graphic design under any circumstances unless through separate written license between Alex Grey and the specific web site.

I find all this funny because it is all so hard (impossible) to enforce.
I know this for a fact because besides my art I have dealt in an industry that is filled with thieves more than almost any other. PORN
Yes, I took tons of pictures of thousands of girls over the years.
I hold copyright and posses the model releases along with the age verification.
These images have been sold to other companies/websites for limited use. Very strict contracts are used and there is also the fear of the powers that be coming down on thieves asking either for model release proof or age verification. One could cause huge monetary problems and the other prison time even, but still… people steal the images and post them all over the place. They even use them for print materials which is ten times as dumb because you can’t just delete and say sorry when a cease and desist is all that has been asked of you.
*sigh* It is all a bunch of crap… but, wtf on a huge page like that saying what you can and can’t do?
I think it will only discourage the more honest people anyways who would have given credit.
The douche bags who steal for profit will still be ripping off the creator of visual media and getting away with it.
Then again… maybe he is right. Maybe that is how it has to be.
Maybe all of us will soon be listing our rules.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse in court.
Maybe it is the artists responsibility to have a page such as Alex Grey has.
again… *sigh*
Things used to be so much more simple.

If somehow you read this far you may be interested in reading up on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

I also recommend for those of you who are not familiar with Alex Grey’s work to visit his site as it is some pretty amazing stuff he does.
If you do know his work, but have never visited his site I recommend you do so and hit his “early works” and check out his self portraits through the years. Super cool.

Valentine’s day…
I woke up yesterday morning with a rock hard cock and was not thinking of the romantic.
I know I’m supposed to be full of love and whatnot on Valentine’s day, but I woke up desiring newness.
Newness is sexy in itself.
I wasn’t  in the mood for romantic loving.
Naughty is what I wanted. Naughty, teasing, slutty fun.

I needed a naughty Valentine.

Didn’t happen though.
Instead I work  all day.
It was just another day.
My wife had woken with a sore throat and I have a cold.
No blow-job even for Valentine’s night.
Poor Selfish me.
The world must be ending.

So… this picture is one I already had. It is from a photo set I haven’t showed on here. (maybe someday I will)
I screwed around with a photo editor to give it some zing. Don’t really dig how it came out, but I procrastinated and didn’t have much time.
Maybe I will screw with a few more of her pictures and make a file called “For Next Valentine’s Day” because the girl is super cute and so is her costume.

Want more Valentine’s day fun? Check out my Valentine Lust post.
More Valentine’s babble and a very sexy picture of a very sexy girl who tastes like watermelon.

Happy Wednesday.
Be Naughty!

Note: This is a Re-post from February 13, 2011 because so many people linked to it and enjoyed the post I saved it when I deleted my blog last year.

Valentine Lust

Valentine Lust

A strange holiday indeed.
For me it is a reason for romance, love, lust, and the color red.
I like a holiday that is about saying “I love you.”
I like a holiday that says “We are going to have great sex tonight.”
I like a holiday that makes a tradition of eating chocolates without guilt.
I like a holiday with red wine and roses.
Valentine’s Day is the shit!

From Wikipedia.org
Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.

Oh the poems…
She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew
From Edmund Spenser’s – The Faerie Queene (1590)

The rose is red, the violet’s blue
The honey’s sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.
English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784)

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet;
And so are you.
The modern version every child knows (current)

lust
n.
1. Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.
2.
a. An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power.
b. Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life.
3. Obsolete Pleasure; relish.
intr.v. lust·ed, lust·ing, lusts
To have an intense or obsessive desire, especially one that is sexual.

val·en·tine
n.
1.
a. A sentimental or humorous greeting card sent to a sweetheart, friend, or family member, for example, on Saint Valentine’s Day.
b. A gift sent as a token of love to one’s sweetheart on Saint Valentine’s Day.
2. A person singled out especially as one’s sweetheart on Saint Valentine’s Day.

From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Word History:
Lovers and the greeting card industry may have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the holiday that warms the coldest month. Although reference books abound with mentions of Roman festivals from which Valentine’s Day may derive, Jack B. Oruch has shown that no evidence supports these connections and that Chaucer was probably the first to link the saint’s day with the custom of choosing sweethearts. No such link has been found before the writings of Chaucer and several literary contemporaries who also mention it, but after them the association becomes widespread. It seems likely that Chaucer, the most imaginative of the group, invented it. The fullest and perhaps earliest description of the Valentine’s Day tradition occurs in Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules, composed around 1380, which takes place “on Seynt Valentynes day,/Whan every foul cometh there to chese [choose] his make [mate].”

Val·en·tine (vălˈən-tīnˌ), Saint fl. third century A.D.
Roman Christian who according to tradition was martyred during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Claudius II. Saint Valentine’s Day was primarily celebrated in his honor, but was also inspired by another martyr named Valentine, who was bishop of Terni, a region in central Italy.

Is it about love or lust?
Is it about both?
Or is it about greeting cards and chocolates?
Do you love getting roses?
Do you enjoy giving them?
Or is it all a bah-humbug?
What is this day to you?

The very first time with someone has so many special moments.
It doesn’t matter if I have known the girl ten minutes or a year… if I have never had sex with her she has special magic to offer up for that very first time.

One of those special moments is when she takes off her panties.
The first time she takes off the panties is special because it is like finding the golden ticket to her magic candy land.
A woman doesn’t take them off unless she is ready.
Or at least it has been my experience that when the panties come down it is the go ahead.
The gonna happen signal.
“Read or not, here we go!”

So I love it.
It is a beautiful thing.

So… another tiny painting.
I’ve done a lot of these now. Most suck and piss me off.
The 8″x10″ thing ain’t working. Out of stubbornness I must continue to paint these tiny things, but I shall confess… I moved up to 9″x12″ sized canvases.
The one above is 8″x10″, but for my sanity I moved up just a tad. 9″x12″ is still freaky small for me and causes me brain cramps, but not as bad as the 8″x10″.
My wife is still not happy though. She says “Honey, you just can’t paint small.” and then she says “Your small painting just don’t look that good.”
Yup, stuff like that.
I agree, but I’m stubborn.
EXAMPLE:
Above painting looks good at a glance (maybe) then you notice that the left side of the figures upper arm/shoulder area  is kinda bulging.
I scraped that off and made it perfectly proportional… but then the balance of the overall image seemed off. My composition was F’d extreme from just that little bit of fixing.
The overall balance is much more important to me than my subject matter so I put the bulging area back in.
I thought about twisting the torso a tad… but “It’s an 8″x10″ painting!”
How much time can be spent on something like this?
I’m giving myself a 3 hour max now from sketching to completion, including alterations.
I’ve realized that without time constraints I could waste away a whole day doing something that should just be left alone. I am flawed, paintings are flawed, life is flawed, and life is art.

It has been said that seeing an elephant in one’s dreams can signify the emergence of one’s Highest True Self.

In India the elephant is a very symbolic critter.
It is not just a symbol of finding your truth.
It is also the God of Warriors and a totem of the greatest of warriors, denoting royalty, inner strength and nobility.

As a Christian symbol the male and female elephant together may often represent Adam and Eve.
That is of course only for some Christians as Christianity is such a generic term nowadays you can rarely find any consensus on anything.

Strength, fidelity, memory, patience, wisdom, intelligence, and power can all be represented through the symbolic nature of the mighty elephant.

Here we have a tattoo of an elephant saddled and ready above a banner that says “TRUTH.”
It came from a book. The client brought it in and wanted it super tiny.
I enjoy doing miniature tattoos.
This is the heeled and aged version of the tattoo at about a year and a half after I did it.
One of the things i enjoy about doing these little things is figuring out how much can be done that will give enough detail to make the tattoo sweet, but not going over the line so that it turns to a blur years down the road.
I hate seeing tattoos like that.

We saw this on EdenFantasys site and thought it was just great, so we asked if we could have it as a review product.
It is the I Love You Glass Dildo. They actually have it listed as the Hearts wand dildo, but it says “I Love You” in glass so I am sticking with that.
Valentines is just two weeks away people.
This is about as Valentine’s Day as you can get with a dildo.
This is also just wonderful as a gift for someone you love in general who likes glass toys.
Check the thing out…
Seven and a half inches long, made of pretty clear glass with a tapered and kinda cock shaped head, smooth with bumpy texture from the hearts and I love you written on it in red, a nice base that allows it to stand up and also makes it safe for anal play if that is your thing, and whenever it gets used your lover will think of you because it says “I Love You.”
It also comes with a nice little red velvet bag to keep it in.
That is some good stuff.

Being of a medium girth for a glass wand this thing is good for those who already enjoy glass and for newcomers to the world of glass.
The texture from the red design work and text is smooth, and not extreme. It is pretty light as a matter of fact. That makes it O.K. for someone who needs a bit of texture and also rock’n for those who don’t dig lots of bumps.
My wife said the way the head shifts to the shaft may be a bit intense for some people if they wished to use it anally, but I’m guessing most who would use it that way would be experienced anal play people.
Point being is that it is more suited as a vaginal use toy.

For you people who have never used glass:
Glass sex toys are usually made of borosilicate glass, which is a durable, safe and sturdy material. (Think Pyrex)
This type of glass is easy to clean, and can even be tossed in the dishwasher between uses.
They pretty much last forever. If you buy a glass wand and don’t throw it at a curb or use it to hammer nails into a wall it will most likely not break in your lifetime.
Glass dildos are lube friendly. No matter what your lube choice it doesn’t ruin the glass. You can use silicone, oil, water based etc… and it cleans off easy with a tad of soap.
Glass dildo own the world of temperature variation when it comes to sex toys.
Submerge your glass toy in some hot tap water for ten minutes and it will be just grand for extra warm sensations. It holds the heat well.
You can also chill your glass toys in a fridge or freezer to get into some cold sensations.
WARNING: Don’t do extreme temperature changes to glass toys like from a fridge straight to hot water or vice versa. Extreme rapid temperature changes can weaken or break most anything.
Remember what I said about these things lasting forever? Not so much if you take it from a freezer and drop it in hot water.

So… glass can be groovy for sex play.
This particular glass toy is a perfect gift for a loved one.
I’m happy to have been able to share it just two weeks before Valentine’s Day.
You can get it here!

EdenFantasys sex toys sent us this Heart Wand glass dildo
(they got lots of dildos) free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.
Check out EdenFantasys for a great selection of adult games, sex toys for men and women, lubes, costumes and more!

Fun Facts:
Semen acts as an antidepressant.
Semen may helps fight sore throats and diabetes.
Semen tastes can be changed through diet.
Semen does a body good with easily absorbed proteins.
There are a lot of other wonderful things to know, but if your interested you’ll probably start looking it up anyway.

Along with my new found quest to conquer the world of erotic art and mess around on tiny canvases comes some general studies.
Figurative ones mostly because I will be mostly doing figurative work for this project.
Composition and paint handling are my main priorities with these studies.
My usual painting methods don’t apply well in such a small area so i have been experimenting and playing around.
This was the fourth figure study on an 8″ x 10″ canvas.

The oddity here is for my eyes only I think.
My finished product looks to me as if someone else has created it.
I did not notice this until a week or so had past when I pulled it out to apply some varnish.
Varnishing a little painting that I new I had created yet looked like it was the work of another was queer indeed.
I hope this project gives me many more such experiences.