The Paint Job Pt. 01

With the current fashion for newlyweds to have their wedding night nuptials committed to canvas, I have become familiar with sketching hesitant couples alongside their conjugal beds. Painting such tender moments presents a fascinating artistic challenge and I've developed a reputation for capturing the mood of the marital suite with discretion and sensitivity.

What I hadn't anticipated was that, inevitably perhaps, one day the happy couple asking for my services would turn out to be two men.

My first instinct was to say no to the two soon-to-be grooms: I really didn't want to sketch two naked men consummating their marriage one behind the other. It wasn't a matter of principle - simply a matter of artistic taste. I didn't find the joining of two male bodies aesthetically appealing and felt that I wouldn't be able to depict this wholly masculine form of sex with the same sense of intimacy and passion that has earned me so many recommendations from my heterosexual clients.

But when I told my wife of my misgivings she was quick to warn me against a flat refusal.

"There was a case of a hotel or a cake shop or something," she informed me, "where the owners refused to serve two gay men. They were taken to court and they lost a lot of money through it. You can't discriminate just because you don't agree with something."

"It's not that I don't agree with it," I quickly clarified. "What two gay blokes get up to is their own business. It's just that I'm not sure I can paint it how they'll want it - full of eroticism and intensity."

"Come on, Michael!" she laughed. "You were in the navy all those years. Surely you've seen men... you know... enjoying each other's company!"

"Of course I have," I nodded. "But I didn't have to paint it."

"You must have seen a certain beauty in it - something you could express in your painting."

"They were just randy sailors using each other for relief," I shrugged. "Their sex was frantic and functional... nothing like the sensual connection that this couple will obviously want me to show."

I'd also never properly watched my shipmates having sex. Those who needed to use such outlets had retreated to the ship's quietest corners to trade their illicit favours. The times I had stumbled across pairs of men with their trousers hitched down, I'd quickly backed away without investigating further.

"Well, if you really don't want to do the job, just double your normal price," my wife suggested. "That'll soon put them off."

I decided that was an excellent idea and the next day I e-mailed my reply to the man who'd sent me the request: a man called Adam Cooper, soon to be Adam Cooper-West. Instead of my normal fee for three consummatory paintings, I quoted ten thousand pounds. Surely nobody would be prepared to pay that sort of dosh!

Adam queried the price, of course, but I was ready with my answer. With heterosexual wedding night paintings I could reference the large bank of sketches I'd accumulated over the years. Because this sort of illustration was entirely new to me, I'd have to start from scratch, which would at least double the time needed to complete the three works.

Bullshit, but convincing bullshit.

Convincing enough for him to come back with a 'yes'.

It turned out, though, that they wanted six paintings done of the two of them in flagrante with the total cost payable running to twenty grand.

Twenty grand, I ask you!

Twenty big ones for what would basically be a month's work once I'd completed my sketches of the two of them doing the deed in the bridal suite after exchanging their vows.

Whatever my artistic tastes when it came to painting love-making, this was the sort of job I simply couldn't refuse.

Once all the paperwork had been drawn up and signed, the happy couple came to see me in my studio so we could go through the logistics of the evening and I could make some preliminary sketches showing the aspects of their intimacy they wanted each painting to depict.

Most straight couples are fairly predictable on that score. They want a painting of their foreplay and then two depicting their first wedded sex - one a tender embrace full of romance and devotion, and the second showing their excitement and passion during the throes of their joint orgasm.

How much nudity they want in the paintings varies depending on the couple and what they intend to do with the artwork. If a painting is to go above the mantelpiece, tastefulness and subtlety are the key requirements. Arms and legs are cunningly positioned and bedsheets casually draped to conceal anything too graphic for public display.

Some couples, on the other hand, want to keep their pictures hidden away from prying eyes and in those cases the request can be rather more explicit.

The grooms of such pairings usually like their penises to be depicted as large and virile: the shaft thickened and veiny and the head a polished dark purple like an opulent gemstone. They want me to show their brides kissing and licking their extravagant manhoods, as if finally relishing the feast of dribbling precum that they had so ardently longed for during the chastity of courtship. Then they want me to paint them heroically claiming their prize with their huge phalluses buried deep between their new wives' quivering legs. They unfailingly approve of the way I gratuitously emphasize whatever masculine features they bring to the bed: the way their testicles swell and protrude as if heavy with their seed, and how their bodies appear so lithe and muscular as they tense and flex and achieve their longed-for release.

Aside from a few rare cases it is the males of the couples who have been the ones to request the most graphic and carnal scenes from my brush; the brides, in contrast, prefer to be illustrated less emphatically than men. They ask to appear smooth and curvaceous, their feminine sexuality made to appear indistinct and submissive, and some even demand to be enveloped in a sheen of soft focus.

I wasn't sure what Adam and Stephen would expect from the six paintings they'd commissioned from me.

They called into my studio on their way home from work, and what struck me first was the sheer size of the two men. They were both imposingly tall and well-built, although neither had the slightest suggestion of fat, and they presented a very handsome couple, turning up smartly attired in their expensively tailored suits. Adam was older than Stephen and had made his money in banking, and at first they gave a stronger impression of being business partners rather than romantic ones.

Their formal attire and meticulous manners made me wonder if they would request mainly artistic depictions of how their marriage was to be consummated. I was anticipating a careful use of shading and lighting to obscure the two sets of male genitals on my subjects, and presenting their more intimate moments with ambiguity so that their intercourse was merely hinted at rather than announced.

As they sat down in front of my desk, Adam, the larger of the two men, explained that the paintings would be deeply personal mementos of their special day to be shown only to other like-minded gay couples who had similar marital artwork they were willing to share.

"So these aren't paintings you'll be showing to your... er... respective parents?" I asked. I usually say 'grandchildren' at this point but that didn't seem wholly appropriate.

"Oh, absolutely not," Adam replied. "We'd like them to be a... well... very honest and frank record of our first night together as two married men."

He glanced at his young fiancé Stephen who nodded and smiled his agreement. "That's right," he beamed over at me. "We'd like our excitement and intimacy to be shown in all its glory."

"And if you don't mind me asking... will you be masturbating one another... enjoying oral sex...?"

Adam nodded. "We'll have foreplay, yes, and then move onto full intercourse."

"I see... full intercourse..." I muttered, making a note on my pad.

"Yes, of course. We'll be having full intercourse together."

"And do you want a painting of you both like that... showing the two of you actually bumming?"

Adam's face scrunched into a hostile glare. "Bumming is a very outmoded word, Michael. It's actually highly offensive."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I muttered, feeling myself blush deeply. "I was in the navy many years ago... we called it bumming when our crewmates sneaked off for... you know..."

"Anal sex?" Stephen smiled. As well as being younger than Adam, he had a lighter complexion and seemed a little shy as if used to letting his partner speak for him.

"That's right," I agreed, managing to regain some of my composure. "So it's not... er... done that way these days, is it?"

"Yes, we do it that way," Stephen nodded. "Anal sex is very important to us. We just prefer to call it 'making love' because that's what it is."

"Yes, indeed. And you want yourselves painted... er... making love like that?"

I wondered why I was finding this so uncomfortable. With straight couples this preliminary conversation usually feels far less forced; sometimes I even manage to inject a bit of humour.

"Of course we do," Adam replied, his expression softening again. "We've talked about it and we're both keen for you to show us consummating our marriage to the full extent."

"It will be a very special moment," Stephen agreed. "The physical joining of our bodies is the most beautiful part of our love-making."

That's hardly how I would describe it, I thought to myself. It never looked that beautiful when I saw blokes shagging below deck.

Adam read my misgivings and threw me an irritated glare. "Come on, Michael - this can't come as a surprise! When two men get married one surely expects them to spend at least some of their wedding night copulating anally?"

"I didn't like to assume," I stammered. "So which of you will be taking the... er... dominant role?"

I had expected Adam to pompously inform me that he would of course be performing the duty of the groom. That he would be taking his betrothed up the aisle, first during the ceremony and then more strenuously in the bedroom.

But no. It seemed I was mistaken in how things worked when it was two men doing it.

"You really are very old-fashioned in your ideas, Michael," Adam harrumphed. "Like most gay men these days, we intend to finalise our nuptials both ways. Two stage consummations are now the established practice for same-sex couples, or so I understand."

"Oh I see," I gulped. I was going to have watch the two of them taking turns to take each other up the aisle.

"Adam will mount me first," Stephen announced cheerfully, apparently pleased that his butt would be at the top of the menu. "Then, a little later on when we're ready to conclude our love-making, we'll change places so that I can pleasure him."

They smiled at each other. This had been discussed in some detail.

"And what... er... position will you be adopting?" I asked. Was 'position' the right word? Now I was getting nervous of saying anything.

Adam explained, "We'll be penetrating one another from behind... both kneeling and facing forwards. It's the classical homosexual configuration and you're no doubt familiar with it from your days in the navy."

I shook my head. "Not really... I never saw men kneeling to do it. The men I happened to walk in on were always standing up."

"Well, we plan to enjoy intercourse in the traditionally gay position. There's a long and rich history of men joining sexually like that."

"Really?" I asked. I'd never thought of homosexuality as having a history - long, rich or otherwise.

"Oh absolutely," Adam nodded. "We actually have a piece of Greek pottery showing a young artisan bending to receive a companion from behind. We'll feel very proud to have you paint us indulging together in a similar way."

"It's also our favourite way of making love," Stephen told me with a confiding smirk. "So it seems doubly fitting that we... er... arrange ourselves like that for our wedding night paintings."

"It used to be called 'doggy style' in my day... is it still?"

"Sometimes, yes," Stephen agreed, before adding, "but we don't just want you to paint us... you know... the front guy on all fours and the back guy upright with his hands on his hips. We don't want this to look like the sort of gay sex you'd see scrawled as graffiti..."

"What appealed to us about the examples on your website," Adam cut in, "was the way you paint heterosexual love-making showing such vigour... such fervour. We want you to capture us like that... even though we both face forwards and make love anally, we want you to convey the same eroticism and energy..."

Stephen laughed, "We might both face forwards but we can still kiss and caress!"

"We'll discuss the specifics a little later," I informed them. "First let's establish the basics. Most importantly, do you want me to include your penises? I can compose the painting in such a way to avoid showing your genitals..."

Stephen giggled, "Actually... can we call them our cocks? 'Penises' sounds too... I don't know... like we're in a science lesson!"

"Of course," I nodded. "So do you want me to paint your two cocks?"

"Yes, our penises have to be shown as flagrantly erect and really pounding with excitement," Adam nodded. "Our desire for each other and desperate impatience to make love with each other, has to be immediately obvious."

"So you want them fully visible? No shadow play or strategic placing of bedsheets...?"

"Certainly not," Adam asserted. "We brandish our two fully aroused manhoods with passion and pride."

I smiled. "A lot of grooms ask that I'm a little generous in my use of paint when I come to paint their passions and prides!"

Adam looked over at Stephen who giggled like a teenager.

He asked, "How generous?"

"A twenty percent increase in size is flattering while remaining natural-looking."

Now Adam laughed too. "I don't think there'll be any need for that, Micheal. You'll find that we're both very large men with extremely well-developed genitals. My erection in particular will require a very lavish use of paint!"

I chuckled. How many times had I heard how massively endowed a groom thought himself only to find myself squinting to find it come the conjugals?

I said, "Well, I'll judge it as we proceed. Sometimes just a little extra length or girth can greatly improve the balance of a piece."

"No really," Stephen insisted, still giggling. "We're both well-hung already and we don't want the paintings to look ridiculous. The friends we might share these with would shriek with laughter if you show the two of us cavorting around with a huge pair of donkey dicks!"

Adam added, "I think the most important point is that you're candid in showing what it is we're doing with our cocks, Michael. We're consummating our marriage using each other's backsides and that's something we're neither shy nor embarrassed about."

"We express our love anally and we make no secret of that," Stephen affirmed. "Pretty much everyone who gets to see these paintings would be surprised if they didn't depict us enjoying penetration on the night of our wedding."

"So... yes... we want to see very clearly that our cocks are inserted into each other's rears. Don't feel you have to shy away from that at all!"

"I see," I nodded, making a note on my pad. So much for my hope that they were going to opt for the more discreetly-posed depictions of their same-sex coitus.

Stephen took up where his fiancé had left off. "I also think it's important to show how much the man being penetrated is enjoying receiving his husband's excitement."

"In what way?" I asked.

"So when I'm taking Adam up my bum, I want you to show that my own cock is also extremely aroused - really swollen and raised high - from the pleasure of having my husband inside me."

"Same for me," Adam agreed. "When I'm receiving, I want my cock to show how much I'm enjoying the consummation!"

I nodded. So the groom getting fucked brandishes a whopping great hard-on! I hadn't really thought about that.

I wondered whether the blokes on the ship I'd seen bending over to be bummed had also been running boners under their bellies. I rather doubted it.

Adam offered further instruction about how they wanted their intercourse portrayed. "Whether we're giving or receiving, you'll find that neither of us is in any way passive! I want you to show us sweating and flexing and working together as we help maximise each other's pleasure. That's how we make love - it's very much a co-operative endeavour in which we're both extremely energetic participants!"

It suddenly struck me that painting two gay men might prove more interesting than I'd supposed. My initial thought on this was that I'd stick to my tried and tested formula, portraying one guy - probably Adam - as more masculine and muscular, the way grooms so often like to see themselves painted, while giving the other the softer qualities of the typical blushing bride. Painting both partners as assertively male would offer the sort of challenge I hadn't had in years.

"What about your balls?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, I suppose they're pretty passive," Stephen conceded. "They just sort of hang down... bob around a bit..."

"No, I mean, how do you want them painted?"

"Oh... I see," Adam muttered. "We didn't give much thought to our balls... what do you think, Steve?"

While Stephen pondered, I told them, "Some men regard them as ugly and want the focus to be on the cock... I reduce the testicles to mere bumps, largely concealed within the pubic bush."

"No, I don't want that," Stephen argued. "We're both men and we have two pairs of very visible bollocks dangling between our legs. Why try to hide what's a biological fact?"

"Yes... paint them as they are," Adam agreed. "No... actually, why not exaggerate their size? We're horny as hell for each other so show them as heavy and swollen with all the seed they're about to shoot out..."

"I thought you said you were already very well-endowed," I reminded him.

"We both have very large cocks," Adam informed me. "Our balls are... well... rather more average... wouldn't you agree, Steve?"

"Yeah, it'll be nice to see them a bit bigger than they really are!"

I made a note to embellish the size of their testicles.

"I think I'll enjoy seeing myself wielding a huge pair of knackers!" Adam laughed. "Yes... show them as really large and distended... full of semen ready to be discharged up into my new husband's rear!"

Stephen turned to him and smiled. "Aw, sweetheart... that's beautiful..."

I said, "Two large pairs of testicles lined up and ready..."

Stephen nodded. "But make sure to accentuate the differences between our nuts... Adam's hang lower, mine are more wrinkled. That goes for our whole bodies, actually... we want you to show that while we're both men, in a lot of respects we're quite physically different."

I made another note on my pad: 'emphasize different aspects of masculine anatomies' and then asked, "Since you've mentioned semen, what are your feelings on how it is depicted? Some of my clients are very eager for it to be shown, others prefer a more... well... sanitized depiction of their love-making."

Stephen smiled. "Again, it's a biological fact that our cocks shoot spunk when we climax. Why shy away from that?"

Adam nodded. "We actually want our semen to play a major role in the post-orgasm painting we have in mind."

"Oozing from our cocks, of course," his partner chuckled, "but also splashed across our bodies and dribbling from our bottoms."

"Dribbling from your bottoms?"

"Yes, to show that our marriage has been fully consummated... that we've climaxed up inside each other and that our releases were powerful and abundant."