The nude model and me

Anybody who has a blog would probably agree that if you work by the rules, finding photos to illustrate your entries is not always easy unless you use images you own. Most photos on the Internet are, in theory, protected by copyright. For my Gazette blog, I can dip into Postmedia’s vast library, which grows daily as wire pictures flow in. But it is not so easy for my main blog at jillianpage.com.

I do play by the rules there — I don’t use photos unless I have the right to use them. So, when I gave my blog a new look a couple of months ago, I searched the Internet for public domain images — and found some good ones that I’ve been using. They are photos of old paintings, which the photographers have made available free.

But the perfect header photo for my blog eluded me, until I came across Carl Larsson’s “Model writing postcards” on Wikimedia Commons. OK, the model is not a blonde like I am, I don’t write postcards, and I seldom use a pen. But in most other ways, that painting is me: I am a nude model sometimes. I am a naturist — and Carl Larsson’s painting is very much about naturism. I do a lot of writing (obviously) about nude modelling, naturism and much more, i.e. human rights issues.

So, I’ve cropped the image for the header space in my blog , and some of my readers seem very happy with it. It’s the perfect image for that blog, they are saying.

Another plus: I’ve discovered the works of Carl Larsson, and the Wikipedia entry showcases many of them. So do click in there and feast your eyes on paintings by this wonderful Swedish painter and read about his life. (I’ve bookmarked the page.)

The blog at jillianpage.com, simply called Jillian Page, with the subheading Reflections on life in the global village, features many of the posts in my Gazette blog, plus a lot more, including interesting and often lively reader discussion. So, feel free to click your way in sometime and join in the conversation.

Cheers

Jillian