richardmunn

good luck with the business setup, i miss the days of being self employed now I'm a wage slave again lol Enjoy the freedom and creativity! I like the idea as well!

One day i hope to achieve a basic core upon which to try and build a little bit of strength lol

. . . . Oh, and I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences

So, I think I must be slightly older, I do remember appreciating Erika Elaniak and then there was also some strange tv show I remember about a helicopter rescue team that had a female of the species that I discovered I was kinda drawn too oh and Ornella Muti in Flash Gordon. But now I do risk getting totally distracted where were we oh yes Beauty I think to me the allegory shows how beauty is relative as well as personal and internal to our own minds and thought processes and all the baggage that goes with that. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder as they say but more and deeper than that beauty can be in our perception and preconception. But is this the true, spiritual beauty of which you speak?

The beauty that is awe inspiring ( or lust and hormone raising) is perhaps different and more entwined with our subconscious ( whatever that may be) but is surely still inextricable linked to our person history, experience, and, perhaps more interestingly, social context.Beauty. the feeling that I feel when I perceive a stimulus from the world outside ( or perhaps, just an internal chemical stimuli but perhaps that is a totally different story! !) that gives me a sensation that I associate with pleasure and . nice things. Perhaps just as far away from the fight or flight stimulus that I have ever experienced? ( although, that again, opens up the dichotomy of the pleasure of pain) but I guess its safe to stick with beauty being something I perceive as being nice.
Through the ages and across cultures this changes wildly in some ways, possibly most wildly in the appreciation of the female form in the physical manifestation of the conceptual importance of fertility and reproduction the beauty of pagan fertility symbols and child bearing hips with full breasts in contrast to the size zero and the 60s Twiggy image. These would both be considered as beauty but the one has the social and cultural baggage of a society where inheritance, reproduction and family are paramount while the other is surrounded by a society with cultural imperatives of freedom of the individual and personal expression.

So, in my fuzzy mind, I have a perception of what I appreciate as beauty and I can either get drawn into where it draws its reference points or I can appreciate it internally for what it is to me, as something I find pleasant and positive.
I think for me I have always considered myself an aesthete and I like to appreciate beauty and nice things, be that beautiful clouds, night skies, glossy advertising. a ferrari dino or a cute bum and nipple here on sg but I tend to think of these as internal to me and my thoughts, specific to the way I am wired and what I like.. but with none the less impact for it.
I can still use the inspiration and positive energy I get from the enjoyment to lift spirits or focus my thoughts but I would not necessarily expect to be able to show someone else the same images and have them appreciate the same experience, this I think is the important difference between religion and spirituality. A religion may define a shape for this beauty and badge it under that religions banner. If you want to belong to that religion you know what you should perceive as beauty ( and conversely feel guilt if you dont. or if you perceive beauty elsewhere) while I always think of spirituality as being open to possibly sharing an appreciation of someone elses aesthetic taste but still within your own personal context, open to other ideas and beliefs. .. and then we have the beauty of ideas and concepts. Now there really is a totally different joy and well religion when it comes to science and origin of species type shenanigans. Even though I feel so much of this is internal to me, I still feel its somehow bigger than me and indeed something to be nurtured and appreciated, in all its forms.

love that drawing, really nice depth. I always like "clearing the decks", as my mum would probably say, before getting down to work (like wot i'm supposed to be doing at the moment lol) it does help me get my brain thinkin straight. Having a nice fresh clear studio can only help I'm sure. I know what you mean about just "getting on" with things, that's always such a hurdle to get over. I'm a terrible one for writing lists and just never getting anything done!
You keep putting that best foot forward, but remember to follow it up with the other one! ... one step at a time

cool, we're hoping to stay there for a week if we can, long way to go just for a funny gig! Any advice on what to do and what not to do in Finland?! That's COMPLETLY new territory for me!! ...Why the pain in life drawing?

yes, i'm really not sure i have any idea what it will be like visting somewhere that's both that cold but also just "dark". I really have no idea if everything will just seem like "night" or if there is something else there, it's exciting! I think we're hoping to plan a trip further north to have a chance at seeing the northern lights and get into the countryside. ... now dark and cold ... but beautiful is going to be a totally different photographic challenge! .. possibly a bit of vodka will play a part as well
... when i was doing life classes i used to tend to spend the whole time doing one very small little drawing on a quarter (or less) of the paper. My tutor would always as me to try and do bigger pictures and i'd try but they always turned out small. What was a challenge for me was when we had classes that were all short poses. The model would swap poses every few mins and you had to do really quick sketches... really not what i did comfortably. Now i look back at the few pictures i have left though its some of those quick sketches i like most. .. I look forward to seeing your pictures.

Hockney does have his moments doesn't he
Yes, I did photography at uni many years ago. Well.. i did 2 years and then (by mutual agreement) i left... when i went there it was a fine art photography course but the year i started Paul Graham took over as the head of the department and it all changed to being very reportage which has just never been my thing and I did the student rebel thing and just clashed at them at every opportunity. Sadly now when i look back i realise what i threw away, it actually took away most of my creativity for years. I didn't really take any photos for many years afterwards when before i went to uni i was in the darkroom every hour i could be. Now, again i find myself rebelling and trying to work out how to become creative again and move from a techy job to something more rewarding and creative. ...on the other hand i might just be being stroppy mid life crisis man lol

Sounds like a plan Do you live far from Brecon?

I love walking up Brecon, go up there fairly regularly

[Random] Give my regards to the Brecons, love that area! Glad to have stumbled onto your blog, some very nice artwork and photography. Congrats on the magazine interest!