Summer Dream

Rosewater AI - Summer Dream 

 The technique is AI, but the colour palette is interesting, if somewhat cool for summer. Pity the wet shirt is not mirrored in the underwear, but there's nice body highlights to admire. Odd chunky watch.

It Must Be April

Evening Downpour in the City

by hongd542 at deviant art 

Fruity Harvest Down Under

 Some of us shiver, but in other parts there is

a Summer of fruitfulness and juicy veg,

provided by the Market Gardener.

artwork by hongd542 at deviant art

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle - Christopher Furminger

Furminger's male art has a variety of styles and this is a particularly arty example.

A man is seemingly entwined with the growth of the Honeysuckle and praying.

His face is striking, the hint of hair on his lip and cheek suggesting artistic sensitivity. 

The Honeysuckle flower is said by some to represent the flames of passion and love.

It's sweet scent reflecting the happiness that comes with that scent.

recent Christopher Furminger

 

The Art of Christopher Furminger at mitchmen blog

Seasonal Faces

These pictures by Javier Sempere mark nicely the passing of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere with the sensual heat of summer (below) giving way to the fruitfulness of autumn when Bacchus takes over from Helios the role of stimulating the pleasures of men.

 

It's Raining

Steve Walker - Rain

 The unashamedly romantic and pretty images of Steve Walker are usually a delightful diversion from the casual lustfulness of the gay universe, but this image seems to play on that difference to sketch out two contrasting personalities gathered together under the one umbrella to shelter from the rain. The stances of the two men show the one's relaxed attitude compared with a tenser, but so determined, stance next to him. Their clothing suggests they have different attitudes to self-image and gay love. A hint of separation might mean that the clouds are not all up in the sky. 

Is this a coming together? A parting? Or just a passing squall?

Summer in the City

Reyes MA - New Yorker (Up On A Roof)

This image with it's acid-bright colours seems to speak of Summer, long and hot

the swirly sky reads like an invocation of heatwave conditions,

the subject's shiny face and clinging, summery attire likewise.

The leaves on the ground though are a augury of Autumn

 and thoughts of the future seems to be reflected in his serious expression

and that typically masculine, crouching pose, denoting a pause in activity.

The man portrayed here is strikingly muscular, his arms and neck convey that, 

even without the curious, explicit outlines showing through his T-shirt.

These seem to be another signifier of the summer heat 

supplementing the fleshy tones which also show through the material

at places where it stretches across perspiring, mounded muscle. 

Seemingly sketchy and naive at first sight, there's some clever observation here

I can't find a website for Miguel Angel Reyes

 but you'll find lots about him and sample images if you search on-line
There's a selection at the Homoerotic Art Museum

Summer is coming (again)

If this picture of Allen Clippinger strolling on the beach with a parasol seems familiar to you, 

click on this reminder and you'll know why. 

Hong Tao's recreation of the subject copies the photograph fairly closely, but he seems to have swapped the hint of boyish mischief seen here in the model's face for a more serious and sensitive demeanour. He focuses our attention on the model's character (and subtly changes our perceptions of it) by removing the distracting background of sea and beach, with all it's associations with summer, play and fun. Comparing the two pictures gives a rather good illustration of how we are subconsciously influenced by what appears to be minor detail.

The disappearance of the sporty numbers on the swimming trunks is also part of that transformation though I must say I like to see numbers on a man, it suggests he's got some energy and offers the faint chance that he might be capable of submitting to discipline. 

When I first saw Hong Tao's picture I was struck by the apparent flimsiness and loose fit of the model's shorts which gave it a slightly erotic flavour. You can almost see the same effect in the original photograph but it's clear here that it's created by shadowing and the dishevelling effect of actually getting them wet in the sea (God forbid!). The suggestive dark shadowing just above the waistline in Tao's picture is however, pure artistic licence (or should I say licentiousness!).

It must be Winter

Caylan Hughes

Winter has it's compensations - the fun of Christmas, the beauty of frost and snow, skiing the slopes if you are a sporty type, but from a man spotting point of view it's hopeless - it's cover up time. 

The caption seems a little belated but Caylan Hughes here defies the weather with a bizarre pair of furry shoulder pads being his only protection from the elements. Of course, in fantasy realms like this it tends to be winter all year round so you have to take advantage of any break in the weather. The image epitomises manly hunkage and Caylan's carefully crafted, hairy highlights are perfect for it.

image: Furious Fotog

It Must Be Autumn

Daily Harvest by Scott Tallman Powers

This pretty but rather sentimental image is in traditional style in stark contrast to the summer harvest depicted by Mel Odom in the previous post. The interest for me is in the rendering of the farm worker's face, a beautiful blending of youth and maturity. This artist often depicts men's faces but they are usually older than this. 

click on the labels below for other mitchmen faces or Seasons   

 

More by this artist

It Must Be Summer

Mel Odom - Sheaf of Wheat

A hunky farm labourer clad in skimpy vest hugs the fruit of his labours

 

The harvesting of wheat at the end of August marks the climax of the Summer growing season and the prelude to the cooler, wetter days of Autumn. This image by Mel Odom seems to embrace that slightly sad moment of endings and beginnings as birds begin to depart for warmer climes. Also perhaps he expresses man's oneness with nature and dependence on it's riches 

Mel Odom's style  has the unmistakeable, austere, geometric grace of the Art Deco era, producing here an angular face with fleshy lips and flaming hair while the muscular shaping of the body is delicately defined by soft, pointillistic shading reminiscent of the texture of velvet. Very tactile!

A Summer Place

Fanelli - In The Garden

An interesting juxtaposition of ideas - 

virile, well-endowed, young man communes with the flowers.

It creates a pretty picture but a slightly confusing one.

I can't find a website for this artist 

but there's a bio about him and his most famous painting at Joseph Fanelli

It must be Spring

Ben Kimura - Cherry Blossom

I have a soft spot for Ben Kimura's romantic, chocolate box world.

His pictures are populated by handsome, wistful, young men,

and this one drawing on his heritage of traditional Japanese art

and the love of nature has a simple beauty about it.

In springtime a young man's fancy turns to love they say

But in reality Cherry Blossom time in Japan is usually quite cold

and this young man sits quite alone with nature,
distracted from his studies and reading

There's  often a sense of 'apartness' in Kimura's art.
He expresses one of the essences of the gay condition - isolation.
Which is especially raw in youth and returns to bite in old age.

This seemingly sentimental image has hidden depths.