Thanks For The Add!!

Hi all! My artistic wing man Steven Vandervate succinctly summed up my impression of the whole MySpace phenomenon:

visual chaos.

Now guess who's become a part of that visual chaos generation? You guessed it. MySpace was a place in cyberspace that I thought was strictly reserved for kids and middle-age pervs posing as kids, but when I saw everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Judy Jetson has a MySpace page I knew Toildom residence was inevitable. And yes, my digital domicile is just as noisy and visually frenetic as all my neighbors' page. It's interesting how MySpace has made it OK to want to force our music upon others. I mean, how many people do you know that love to have DJ Thug Dawg or Billy Ray Cyrus suddenly assault them at 120 decimals at the mere click of a MySpace profile pic? Forrest Gump should have said "Life is like MySpace music. You never know what you're gonna, but something's sure to piss you off soon enough".

The difference with the music on MY MySpace page is that it truly brings joy to your ears. I mean, how could it not? I have the kitschy sounds of 1967 Paris pop kitten France Gall (and no, it's not because she keeps crooning the word "Les"), the B-Boy brilliance of Nice 'n' Smooth back in the 80s when hip-hop WAS king and every dress came with shoulder pads, The Beatles' gearest song to date "Don't Bother Me" performed by George, the toe-tapping urgency of The Specials to acknowledge my punk/two-tone roots, a fantastic and underrated smash song from The Ronnettes before Phil Spector came and completely stripped them of their defiant street roots, and a ferociously hot number I recently discovered by Elvis Presley called "Big Hunk of Love" with raucous solos from both the guitar AND the piano. So yeah, when you get to MYspace feel free to remove the earplugs because I'm spinning songs that'll make your grandpappy do back flips.

OK, all pompousity aside, come drop by my page and make your presence known with a sweet graphic or a simple "Ciao Les!"--at least while the place still has that new MySpace smell.

Les Toil's Big Beautiful MySpace Page

There's a blue flame in town

Hi all! A lovely young lady named Lisa is interested in being immorTOILiized but she'd love a little feedback on what color dress she should rise through the burning blue embers in. What thinks ye?

Paging Bettie! Paging Bettie!

Hi evahbody. Typical situation happened where someone engaged me in a back-and-forth about having a portrait done but after I went through the effort of creating a bunch of poses for her and emailing them to her, she broke the news she doesn't have a penny. As much as I haven't wanted to take my friends' and family members' advice to not pick up a pencil until the potential client states she has money, I think I may soon have to.

Anyways, enough of my grousing and griping. I thought I'd utilize these cute l'il saucy scribbles and let you all grab a gaze. And if any of you potential Toil Chickas see a pose amongst this bunch that suits you to a tee, just give me a holler and reserve it for your own magnum opus. I loooove classic pin-up art from the good ol' days and I'm ALWAYS raring to do something retro. :)

Click the art for a much larger viewing!

Heavenly

Hi all. I had a great time sketching some poses for a lovely lass's Toil portrait last night. I almost felt as if I was channelling Raphael or Titian with these renderings. Pretty boisterous of me to even THINK of placing within the standings of such geniuses but I really feel I was sharing that sense of spiritual inspiration I can't help but to assume they experienced when creating their winged beauties. Chances are it all simply boils down to the fact that the full-figured female form has served as the primary aesthetic inspiration for myself and of course all of the great Rennaisance artists.

Water Sirens (redux)

Hey all, I have a feeling this will prove to be the quickest I will have ever followed up on a previous blog. Anyways, I was inspired by two things to make additions to the below water siren art.

The first came from my seeing an endless amount of fairy images on a women's "My Space" page. It reminded me how bonded so many women are with those free-spirited fictitious little beings. I often love to show the less shiny side of our icons of happiness, not because I'm a cynical ol' crab but because we all need to be reminded no one is immune to bad days and that familiar sense of deep despair. So here we have a winged being associated with freedom and folly finding herself in a rather trying situation.

The second thing that inspired me to alter my art was receiving an email from my bud' Martha (who happens to be this month's Toil Girl in the Spotlight). She had some rather poignant remarks about my concept sketch and how she interpreted it:


"I love the rock art. It seems a bit lonely to me...all alone on the rock with the seas surrounding you and the dark skies above....I LOVE it personally and I like to see the darker side of you, Les...lots of girls want to see happy fat and sometimes it's just not that way...sometimes it's a struggle to see the beauty in something most people find grotesque or carnival...it's like standing on a rock in the middle of the sea, alone, while the world throws its worst at you...but the beauty is that no skinny, self-abased girl could handle it...she would be blown down with the first gale but a woman with a firm foundation in herself and size would be a lighthouse to bring others to realize it's not the size but the foundation that holds her steadfast..."


Martha, I want to say your eloquent evaluation of my art is nothing less than profound and poetic. I was incredibly moved by those words as I'm sure everyone else who reads them will be as well. Some will be enlightened by your words where as many will appreciate your ability to express so much of what they've felt in their own hearts about themselves.

In all honesty I hadn't even considered that the woman on the rock was in any state of despair until I received Martha's email. I have to admit she added depth to this image that goes deeper than the ocean itself. If and when I actually take this piece of art to completion, I'd love to have her words accompany it.

Now the question is....

...wings or no wings?

Water Sirens

I don't know where I found the time to do so, but I found myself doodling with my Wacom pen and came up with this concept for a piece of big girl art. Maybe I'll apply this design to the next person who employs my pin-up art talents and expresses a strong interest in water--or maybe I'll save this one for myself. For some time now I've been tossing around the idea of creating a series of images of voluptuous women and water. I can't think of the last time I befriended a BBW who DIDN'T have a spiritual connection with water.

Have any interesting concepts that place women in water (preferably in nature)?

By the way, it took me a looonnnngg time to convince myself I could produce anything aesthetically sound with a Wacom Pen beyond a smiley face.

Toiled and Leathered

Here's a Toilsome "exclusive". It's a portrait-slash-illustration of/for a dear miss name Mitzi. It's not just a far-fetched fantasy we've depicted here but a representation of the deliciously deviant nocturnal lifestyle her and her hubby envelope themselves in. Ya won't find this piece o' ink in my gallery as it's about as family friendly as phone sex with Bill O' Reilly but the Les Man is as proud as a peacock about it nontheless. Hope ya's like!

By the way, the date is 6/6/06. AAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! Clutch your Rosary beads and DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE!!!