Ginger? Tina Louise? I never liked her looks or attitude, but Dawn Wells was my childish model of ideal womanhood, maybe because of the coconut-cream pies. She still looks cute as a button. But when did the Professor morph into the Skipper?

It takes more attention and perception to see any sort of beauty that isn't being foisted on you daily in ads and junk, and people ought to be made to do nude life drawing as a condition of primary education. Maybe we wouldn't have these visual social diseases if we trained people to look for themselves?

As a painter I can't bring myself to do nudes anymore, except a few of my wife, but I've done one very close-up face which gets at the same quality, and looks nude, but without the cheesy associations and stylistic problems. On the one hand it seems so natural to paint nudes, on the other hand it's like the writer who said that bad writers use up all the good words.