Parking Lot Characters: The LargeTopless Guy

I was nearly finished with this one before I realized just how much this fellow looked like a middle-aged Charlie Brown gone to seed. It was one of the first sunny days we had had this year, and I wasn't even all the way to my usual sketching grounds when I spied this gomer strutting down the main drag in downtown Oak Grove. This is what happens in Oregon after a cold and drizzly spring and early summer, guys like this feel compelled to take their shirts off and wander around at the first provocative hint of sunshine. Now as an artist and former connoisseur of nude dancing establishments I've probably seen well over a hundred miles of naked human flesh, some of it more pleasant than others, and I consider the human form to be a fascinating piece of machinery, and generally take each one as is. However, when I see sights like this it really makes me wonder about the über-conservative folks who get so offended by public breastfeeding. Seriously! A woman can grow a small human being inside her body, and then after it is born, use her body to feed that same little human. How amazing is that?! Yet, here we are in the year 2011 and despite a growing laundry list of the benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and child, there are still people who are offended by this act as if it's something dirty and shameful. Meanwhile, this character, and his ilk, like so many fur-less bears, can lumber down pretty much any Main Street  in the great US of A with nary a glance. I'm just sayin' it seems a little backward to me.

Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers!

A large topless guy strolling down the street.