Episode 026
From Good Girl to Art Rebel – One Nude Drawing at a Time with Michelle Dovey
She left a penis off her sketch – and it cracked open a decades-long pattern of shame she didn’t even know she was carrying.
When Michelle Dovey sat down to draw a statue of Apollo in Florence, she didn’t mean to leave something out. But there it was – a blank spot where the genitals should’ve been. This accidental omission turned into a revelation: her artistic gaze had been unconsciously edited by years of shame, modesty, and good girl conditioning. So what did she do? She started drawing cocks. A hundred of them.
The result is her wildly unfiltered, beautifully rebellious Naked Man Project – and in this episode, Michelle talks about art, body image, unshaming the male form, and what happens when you start seeing people (and yourself) through curious, compassionate eyes. It’s funny, raw, and full of unexpected tenderness. Just like her drawings.
“I didn’t realize my gaze was edited – until that blank space showed me what I’d been too afraid to see.”
Connect with MICHELLE:
- Instagram: @michelledoveyartist
- Facebook: Michelle Dovey
- LinkedIn: Michelle Dovey
- Website: liberate.michelledovey.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – The sketch that launched 100 cocks
03:10 – Uncovering shame through a blank spot on the page
03:59 – Drawing David’s penis in public (yes, really)
05:14 – Why women artists still edit out genitals
06:36 – “I didn’t know my gaze was edited”
08:34 – Good girl gone rebel – how the project began
10:20 – Drawing nude men – what it’s really like
11:51 – Intimacy, safety, and being fully see
13:32 – Bellies, body hair, and sketching without apology
15:51 – Seeing sovereignty through someone else’s eyes
19:56 – From tantra workshops to viral Facebook posts
21:46 – Shared shame – how it’s not just women
23:41 – The 10X moment – why she committed to finishing in a year
24:42 – The cock project goes public (including curious neighbors)
28:26 – Curiosity over fear – how she keeps moving forward
30:39 – Stepping into the unknown, one drawing at a time
31:46 – Returning to her love of figure painting after years away
37:21 – Social media, contracts, and growing a bolder business
42:15 – Trusting the next “yes” – and what’s coming next
44:07 – How to follow her work (and maybe even pose…)