Hey,

I used to love doing nude work but I am no longer doing it and haven't been for some time. I've put all of my nudes and most of my self-portraits into storage. It has nothing to do with the sharing option, though I've been following the issues through others' journals and news articles. I'm just not a nude model anymore and don't plan on being one for awhile. I still think it is absolutely okay, but I prefer to be behind the camera.

I'll try and explain:

I grew up in a household where school was THE most important thing and so, if I was not making what my parents considered good marks, I was not permitted to have outside interests. My teachers attempted to explain to my parents at parent/teacher nights that I was an exceptional student, very bright and was making very good marks for someone who had just started french immersion in gr. 7 ( I was making 80's by the way; by university standards those are A's). But because I had gotten 90's and hundreds all through elementary school (before I switched to french immersion) I simply wasn't applying myself and was expected to do better.
Even when I did better it was simply what was expected and although I had nearly killed myself attempting to get those 90's and had no life, well, that was what you had to do to succeed.

I appreciate what my parents were attempting to instill in me...the desire to do well and succeed academically and therefore in life. However, their extreme attitudes and punishments skewed my priorities, leaving me with the ingrained belief that I HAD to do well or they would cease to love me. This lead to panic attacks, then to generalized anxiety disorder and finally, to severe depression coupled with crippling anxiety.

After years of therapy, medications and moving out of my parent's house I am now at a place of balance in my life. I told you that story to put everything into context.

I wasn't permitted to explore my artisitc side while in my parents' house despite the fact that my mother has tried and loved everything from tole-painting to scrapbooking. I was permitted to write poetry and that was all.
Thus I never felt I was particularly artistic. I loved art, but figured I could never produce it.
When I started to model nude I considered it my way of contributing to the art community. And it was, but now I'm fully exploring any and all creative avenues that come my way and so I am freer than I have been in a long time. Modeling nude was like sticking my toes in the water to test the temperature. Now I've jumped right in and I'm no longer afraid!

I'm not saying I might not come back to nude modeling...I very well might. But right now my energies are focused on other things and so it's simply not in the cards.

There you have it friends, a long winded and rather boring explanation as to why you can't find my nudes anymore Blessed be...