'If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.'
Anatole France
Anyone who creates, who builds, who sculpts, draws, paints or photographs, to me, must love the process. When I used to act, I really didn't enjoy the end result, the stage performances. What I loved was the rehearsals. Working through the character and script and putting together what would finally be seen. I never understand when I read that a famous actor doesn't like to rehearse. To me, that means their true love isn't necessarily acting, but performing.
It is a subtle difference, but an important one for artists. Most artists don't spend the majority of their time standing in front of their finished work awaiting feedback and applause. Those who do, tend to be frequently disappointed. Most of their time is spent working and creating. Coming up first with a vision, then figuring out how to best transfer it to a finished visual. It is my love for this process that drives my continuing FH, and the behind the scene and process driven themes that I love to explore.
Artist Felix d'Eon has created thousands of completed art pieces. Colorful and erotic art pieces celebrating the male form. You can check out many of them on Felix's many sites and social media platforms, many featured on his etsy site HERE: or check out some of my favorites on The OVER-FLOW HERE: Felix calls his love of art, music and the male form more than passion, an addiction, one with an all encompassing process he has no interest in quitting.
Who can blame him. Felix's days are spent working with interesting and beautiful naked men in the process of creating his vision. I first discovered the Mexican artists work back in 2012 and was overwhelmed with how much of his process he shared. If you check out Felix's site, his blog, his tumblrs and social media sites, you will see how filled they are with method, process and technique.
I loved viewing Felix's unedited behind the scenes shots of his models posing, and then comparing them with finished art pieces. Sometimes the model's pose is replicated in a drawing or painting, other times, just an arm position or body angle is transferred and used. If you check out the 'blog' link on Felix's main site, you will scroll page after page of process images, often accompanied by the resulting art work.
'As a child, the books my mother bought for me were antique; books from the turn of the last century, up through the 50’s and 60’s. I think she bought me books which she herself was drawn to, and consequently, my vision of the world was formed by these books from an early age. I’m thinking of Edwardian editions of Hans Christian Anderson and One Thousand and One Nights, the illustrated books of Arthur Rakham, and the old fashion magazines from the 20’s and 30’s.'
You can feel the books and time periods Felix mentions above within his images, and I love how they contrast with the modern look of the process photographs that act as inspiration. I was going to initially choose several final art pieces, and showcase them along with process shots. There were so many however, it became overwhelming. Although I will be featuring more in the future, I thought it best to start with one model, and Brandon was an easy choice.
The first shot of Brandon I saw was was on E-Bay last year. The drawing, entitled, in the Locker room, is the first drawing at the top of this story. I remembered the shot when I was recently going through Felix's site and when I came upon some behind the scenes shots, knew that he was the perfect subject to highlight Felix's work. Brandon appears very comfortable just hanging around the studio naked, posing and sometimes even assisting with lighting and set up when required.
