I have found that the ability to play creatively is inherently tied to my artistic inspiration, as it allows me to have the space to explore and develop new skills without the constant pressure of productivity. This desire for creative play is one of the driving forces behind my exploring new mediums, and how to utilize those new limitations to create meaningful art. On this page I will share with you my playful journey, displaying a small collection of those works that allowed me to hone my skills through play.
Affirmations - 2023
Collaboration with Mary B. - Mixed Media
"Affirmations" is a piece that perfectly demonstrates the impact of creative play. In the summer of 2023, I was gifted a Share Vibe by Fun Factory in order to become more familiar with the product. Fun Factory is a company that I adored simply because their goal was to make sex with toys (solo, partnered, or grouped) more fun through creativity. And they hit their mark. At the time I was deep into the confusing waters of exploring my gender identity, and this toy allowed me to have one of the most gender-affirming solo sessions I had had. So much so that I wanted to create a piece specifically depicting the impact it had. However, I found that my current style wasn't able to hit the mark, and I shelved the idea until a spontaneous collaborative creative session with a new artistic friend. Working collaboratively with Mary, I integrated their playful exploration of color and texture that hit the nail on the head. It was only through this collaborative work that I was able to step out of my stylistic comfort zone and truly depict the feeling that originally inspired this piece.
The Three Nymphs - 2022
Acrylic, Gouache, and Colour Pencil on MDF Wood
"The Three Nymphs" is one of the first big pieces where I experimented with including a more symbolical meaning into the piece, rather than just painting a scene from reference. It is a piece that took me just over 2 years to complete simply because the level of artistic skill that I had at the time was not up to the level of my imagination at the time. Then once I had picked the piece back up in 2022, I completed it within 30 minutes. Rather than banging my head against the wall and continuously attempting (and failing) to finish this piece, I looked to other mediums - specifically gouache and digital mediums - to develop the skills I needed to finish this piece.
"Self-Discovery through Masturbation" - 2022
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
"Group Play" - 2022
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
"Roleplaying" - 2022
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
"Daddy" - 2020
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
"Power" - 2020
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
"Kitten" - 2020
Gouache on 140 LB Watercolour Paper
At the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself stuck in Mississippi without my materials, so to stave off those isolation blues, I bought myself a cheap gouache set and sketchbook. After creating some color palettes and practicing how the medium plays at a variety of viscosities, I felt confident enough to create erotic scenes to accompany some sex education material I was working on. Originally, I uploaded my erotic art and educational materials on Patreon as a way to provide a more holistic sexual education experience. These pieces were some of the many that accompanied in-depth essays, informational booklets about sex, and digital paintings that followed along with the topic for the month.
Digital Pieces Accompanying Educational Materials - 2022
Digital on Clip Studio Paint
What I really enjoyed about working in tandem with the gouache pieces is that I saw that my skills in both rapidly improved. Skills that I needed to develop in order to paint in traditional mediums allowed me to work more efficiently digitally and vice versa. It also allowed me to create a space where I could explore different styles and find a way that felt more akin to my traditional creating process. While I thoroughly enjoyed doing these accompanying pieces, changes to the platform meant that I had to remove the erotic art from my Patreon page if I wanted to keep the sex education material accessible.
1-Hour Digital Studies - 2023
Digital on Clip Studio Paint
After removing the artistic process from my online sex education space, inspiration had left, replaced by burnout, and I decided to take a break from any artistic endeavors until the new year. These pieces here are a select few digital pieces that I worked on to get my creative spark going again. Where I limited myself to a working time of 1 hour, using a variety of references to create the overall composition. Specifically aiming to work on my ability to take details that I saw from the reference onto the page with confidence. This was also the first time that I had done a self-portrait. As someone who has had a difficult relationship with my body, complicated by body dysmorphia, breaking down what I saw in the photo to its key components became an incredibly healing process.
Wild Gods: Asterius and Theseus - 2023
Digital on Clip Studio Paint
"Wild Gods: Asterius and Theseus" is a piece for a collaborative zine run by a group of queer erotica creators, featuring erotica themes around spirits and deities of the wild. For my contribution to the zine, I created an alternative ending to the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur.
In Greek mythology, Asterius - the Minotaur - was born as the result of Pasiphaë - the wife of King Minos - falling in lust with a snow-white bull gifted to King Minos by Poseidon. Pasiphaë birthed Asterius and having brought deep shame to King Minos, ordered Daedalus to create a maze to hold him. Here Asterius sustained his form by feeding on the enemies of the king of Crete, particularly Athenians. As time passed Theseus, the son of the King of Athens, volunteered to be a sacrifice, offering to slay the Minotaur. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with Theseus and gave him an enchanted thread that would aid him in leaving the maze. This is where we deviate from the story. Theseus navigating the maze, finds himself wrapped up and bound by the thread, and as Asterius - the Minotaur - finds him, becomes enamored. Rather than fight, they lock into an erotic embrace. In this retelling, Theseus does not return, and while Ariadne remains broken-hearted, she is not abandoned on the island of Naxos, and Dionysus still falls in love with her. He gifts her a crown on their wedding night that she then throws into the night sky to form the constellation Corona Borealis.
I share this piece as I see it as a cultivation of the rewards of being able to play in different mediums. While I can see that my skills have improved since creating this piece, I still look at it with deep love, as it marks a key turning point and an excellent way to move onto the next chapter of my creative journey - one where I am more intentional with form and tone.
"A Helping Hand" - 2024
Linoleum Print on Newsprint Paper
"Pleasure in the Grotesque" - 2024
Linoleum Print on Newsprint Paper
"Whiny Brat Baby" - 2023
Linoleum Print on Print Paper
"Eldritch Love" - 2023
Linoleum Print on Newsprint Paper
"Erotic Flowers" - 2023
Linoleum Print on Newsprint Paper
After the success of experimenting with gouache and digital mediums, I wanted to work on developing my skills of form and tone by limiting my color choices in a piece. And opted to explore a new medium - linoleum carvings and printmaking. After sacrificing a few small pink erasers to familiarize myself with the carving process, I worked on creating this series of prints. Modifying older designs to work with this more limiting medium. I am still very early on in my lino print experimentation and am excited to see what stylistic choices will come out as proceed with this new medium. As I develop my skill with this medium, my goals will be to integrate color into my prints, particularly to emphasize key aspects of pleasure from each of the scenes created.