Not Quite X-Rated

I'm not much for being politically correct. I figure that there's right and that there's wrong. I'm also not big on holding people accountable for things they did that were acceptable at the time but considered wrong now. Just don't do it now and we're okay.

I don't like being called "dear," for instance. I can forgive the first time and if I expect to continue to know this person, will usually mention that I particularly dislike it because my ex-husband used to call me that very sarcastically when we had arguments. It just brings back bad stuff in my head that I then assign to the current perpetrator. Normally, that alignment is enough to make them stop calling me that! If you're close enough to me to feel you need to use an endearment, you know about the 'dear' thing and you know who you are. If not, try calling me Marilyn. I always answer to it and never object to it. Wabbit works too, as does Bunny. I'm used to them.

I'm fine with the notion that I don't have to be happy with every element in the world, and especially in regard to those that don't ever or at least rarely touch me and my little world. I have concerns, as do most people, about the things that are wrong with our mutual world such as starving children, global warming, and the energy crisis, but I don't let them keep me awake. You do what you can about it and get a good night's sleep so you can do what you can tomorrow.

What's the point? The point is that once the proper current protocol is decided, I'm easy as long as you aren't calling me names.

I've been part of a year-long round robin of artists working in altered engagement calendars this year that we call Calendar Journals or CJs. It's really enjoyable work and I've looked forward to seeing each and every one. Each month, it is even more fun seeing what the calendar looks like, what the owner did to it before it went out, and what others have since done to it. I've enjoyed most of the themes, but have found some challenge in them too. I mean, who can improve on Tuscany for heaven's sake? My solution has usually been to alter just the facing pages and work on something that complements (okay 'complements' vs. 'compliments'? - that part of my brain isn't working right now!) the theme of the photos without altering the photos. I have no clue why I'm mostly reluctant to alter them and little interest in thinking about the whys of that.


So this month, August, brought me a CJ with the theme of Pinups by Gil Elvgren. This guy did wonderful paintings of pinup girls. Why, I don't know. I can see that he was/is a talented artist, but I don't know much else about him, starting with whether he is still alive and when he created these paintings. I don't particularly care for his subject matter, but it isn't keeping me awake at night. I think it is passé. Not relevant to me or my time on earth. So what to do with these photos of paintings that I find slightly amusing, slightly distasteful in that they denigrate women and reduce them to sex objects. We do a much better job of it in the present. On the other hand, they recall a lighter period when a woman could be pretty and silly and even pretty silly and not worry about whether or not she was dragging the whole of her gender down in the doing of it!


I also have no talent for writing fiction. One of the reasons that blogging works for me is that I am writing about facts or opinions (of which I have plenty without even having to develop PC-ness). In the process of working on these CJs every month, working with whatever theme presents itself in an envelope from my pal, Juliet, I've discovered my niche for fiction.


I'm fairly good at writing one and two line 'stories' prompted by photos. The less the photo's subject matter appeals to me artistically, the better or more amusing I find the little stories that come to my mind. Even better, they seem to just fit the page exactly and I don't have to work hard to make that happen or leave anything out. They are like the catch-lines written for ads by copywriters, or that's how I see them. They give you just enough of a story to let your mind make up the rest.


I also do not journal like most artists who journal do it. I usually use my own writing without resorting to drawing straight or wavy lines to contain my letters. I don't normally stylize the writing in any way as is so popular right now.


So here's what I've done with this month's challenge, the Pinups. Here's where I started. The idea popped into my head and had to be put down on paper. I couldn't wait long enough to even put some background color on the gesso! I picked up a gel pen, which others use a lot which is why I have them - bought on the recommendations of others and barely used, and got to work, working in someone else's style with no clear idea of where I was going!


Whimsical? Yes. Fun? Decidedly so. The names just came to me. I'd look at a photo and the girl would get a name and a little story.



I made two tiny alterations to make the photo and the story work. I put a little black paint on it to represent the shoe polish.

Margot got a little strip of paper added since the lettering and page needed some added color.

In TheArtJournal group, Ricë Freeman-Zachery prompted us to journal about journaling. (If you're like me and have a burning need to know how she pronounces her name, I believe it rhymes with Lisa.) In putting gesso on the page, I'd covered one photo with gesso because I'd accidentally dropped some adhesive on one photo. So I had a spread with no photo prompt. I'd put lots of texture on the photo page because I wanted to play with that instead of my normal smooth application of gesso. I picked up my Sharpie Poster Paint pens and went to work.



For some reason, this demanded another page to carry on the thought. This was feeling crazy as when my pen touched the line to draw the first 'S', I had no clue where I was going or what I was going to write as I thought I'd finished my thoughts on the topic on the previous page. I guess not!


So there I was with a photo that I hadn't used as a prompt. Did I leave it with nothing? The next thing I knew, I was drawing a margin around it in black and putting in writing lines around and behind the photo. By the time I discovered the pages in the back of the CJ where Tracey (the owner of this one) had put half envies for us to put a tag or something to 'sign' with, I'd established a new journaling style for myself, complete with a style of writing that is simply a styled version of my own printing with a couple of twists. The last photo is the one I had the most trouble with emotionally.

These paintings were done in a style that existed just to titillate men and this one objectified the woman more than any of the others, in my opinion. What woman would put her hat on and then press her skirt? Okay. I remembered a very well-dressed friend telling me that she liked to put on a bustier, thong, and 4-inch spike heels to run the vacuum cleaner. Hmmm... There plainly was nothing left to do but to make fun of the pinup. Before I knew it, Katie had invented permanent press!

Given my above-stated lack of interest in being PC, I don't know why these paintings bothered me so much, but I'm glad that I dealt with them in the way I did. I stretched a bit and enjoyed it when I didn't expect to enjoy it.

OK, they made sense to me now. Fun challenge! I wonder what's coming next month!