The Art of Beauty
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I studied art in high school. It was the only thing I was interested in. I wanted to spend my life in art. The obvious thing to do was to become a painter or sculptor or create things from mixed media. The problem there was that as my art teacher said, I could acquire all the technical skills that could be taught, but that does not make you an artist. For that you need a talent, and that is what I went searching for.

My art teacher was always talking about the innate beauty in nature or in created functional forms.

“Art is about creating beauty from materials. Even abstract art that involves throwing paint at a canvas, needs to have beauty. The artist is the person who looks at what they have done and recognizes beauty, or starts over.”

I figured that my problem was that I did not understand beauty. I needed to seek it out, and study that. And to do that, so I was told, you need to make use of the media and the blank surfaces that are available. At home that turned out to be my sister’s cosmetics and my face.

I just played around at first, but I got very interested in the whole idea of cosmetics being used to enhance feminine beauty. Nobody can deny that feminine beauty has inspired artists over the centuries. It is not just the face – it is the hair and the body too – but my journey began with the face, concentrating on the eyes and the lips, and the general coloring.

The eyes are very important, and the whole idea of eye makeup is to make the eyes stand out. Eyes speak to the observer of art more than any other part of the face, and good makeup draws the onlooker in. By using a living canvas, you can then play around with looks and capture them on camera. But the one that draws you in most is the longing look. I spent hours in front of the mirror perfecting that.

The lips are another expressive part of the face. I read somewhere that the lips on the face mirror the vaginal lips that become pink when aroused. Is that true? Anyway, if it is, lipstick is supposed to mimic an aroused vulva, and lip gloss a wet one. I was intrigued by the idea. I experimented with all types of colors and glosses in search of perfect beauty.

Eyebrows are also a part of the fact that can be used to show expressions. There are many shapes of eyebrow that send out messages to the viewer. As my art teacher said, art is about the artist communicating with his or her audience. The right eyebrow shape can speak out loud. I needed to pick the one that worked best, and the hair across the forehead helps to soften them.

The color of the face is all about good health. The book I read said that a heathy color in the face signals that a woman will make a good mate, not that I was looking to be mated with … in those early days. All the other tricks with colors and highlights and shadings, are designed to conceal blemishes and reduce heavy features, but I think that when I was done, I did not need much more to present my own face as a very good example of feminine beauty.

But art needs a purpose. My art teacher used to say that the purpose of art – “is to evoke emotions – to make people feel. Function is needed to feed, clothe and house the body, but art feeds the soul. Your art needs to affect somebody to be worthwhile … to be art at all.”

So, when I looked at what I had created I knew that I had to put my art on display, and affect somebody. I was the work of art, and my gallery was outside. That was where I needed to exhibit myself.

And that is how I met Kade. I affected him very deeply. It was the making of me as an artist.

He was shocked to find out that I was not a woman and even more shocked to hear that I really didn’t intend to be one. But after taking some time to come to grips with his emotions, he decided that I was a work of art that he needed to have.

It was just that he needed to talk to me about function. His statement to me was that art can be admired purely for its appearance, but art that also serves a function is better. That was something that he was prepared to pay money for, or rather provide open-ended patronage in order to enjoy every day.

In history the greatest artists have benefited from patronage. But commissions and support do require some functional alterations and some sacrifices, but an artist should be ready to do that, for their art.

So, this is me now – feminine beauty from head to toe, created by brush and scalpel. Tell me you are not affected by my work?

The End

© Maryanne Peters 2024