Shakti in Hinduism is the Creator Goddess - the energy and force of beingness and nonbeingness. She is responsible for creating, destroying, and maintaining the universe embodying it all.

She has many avatars and can be creative in healing and love and destructive in protective mode. My version is probably closest to Parvati, but as I explore aspects of the Kama Sutra from a feminist perspective, I am sure I will also want to explore the justice, balancing, righting and caring for the self & others aspect to the divine journey in true love and wisdom especially around my own experiences of my Artha being oppressed, and the need for the Shakti to embody the aspects that destroy and heal/maintain. In other words, she doesn't want to show you her dark side, but if you insist...she's deal with that too, 

Here is the Shakti Deva. In my version, Shakti is the name of the ship, the vessel, and when I think of ship - I am also thinking of how we use the word 'ship' to describe relationships and that the Goddess herself, being love & the Holy Spirit itself, is a relationship. The Deva (which also means a divine being - angel and where we get the word Diva) for me is the 'captain' of the ship, the head -which means for me, a person who steers themselves in the Holy Spirit and so partakes of the divine and is one with the divine. For me, I want to explore not just the sex aspect, but the other aspects too that enable the whole divine as a unity. The Purusartha.  So, Dharma, Moksha, Artha & Kama.
 
Dharma meaning living a virtuous and noble life, doing the work of the Holy Spirit, following your calling & the guidance of the Holy Spirit & your Moksha (Inner Truth) and Artha - purpose) living in the Spirit for the Spirit;
Moksha meaning knowledge of self, insight & true form & liberation from the cycles of Karma (worldly law - Samsara), liberation from aimless death & rebirth & forgetfulness - it is about being fully awake; and
Artha which is your calling & purpose in the world. Your raison d'etre for being more than a self alone, Moksha brings the self to relativity with the world and the universe, Artha brings you to care, heal & fully participate in your connection with the ALL.
Kama is what leads you. Where your Kama is - so you will be led. Kama is the steering wheel of Dharma. If you're desire is for material things, selfish things & immediate, you will love those things & they will keep you away from holy things which are spiritual, universal & everlasting, Kama is about taking the great desires of love, connection, fulfillment and satisfaction, and elevating them to unite with the other three aspects to a good and holy life. It balances love for the world with relativity, respect & knowledge of self, service, & joy.

It is very much like the idea of Ikigai in Japan  - that Venn diagram for a good life--though different--it covers many similar things related to your life's purpose). The Kama Sutra taken as it is meant to be understood does this with the divine purpose. 

It's a wholeness, a holiness and a template for a good life. As I am reading the Kama Sutra now, I see  a lot of inequality and male dominated & very traditional and oppressive as well as entitled points of view and I intend to provide the Universal Love Sutra  - the Cosmic Kama - that is more than just earthly, more than just funneled through a rich & powerful man's desire & corrupted for too long by their own base desires  & sense of their own divinity without regard for the woman and her own divinity, in fact, making her subservient to him through inequality, and sins of omission & commission.

Mostly, people want the sex, the tantra, the spiritual experience of it - but don't want to do all the other work to get it. This is not how it's done & I see a lot of people going at it so wrong & with the wrong people & spiritual energy. Men thinking they have something to teach a woman while not listening to women. Men thinking they can heal women, while being the ones to break them. 

When I cover the 'size' of men vs. the 'size' of women...as much as it may relate to the girth and length of the anatomy - spiritually it relates to the ego (Moksha) and the receptivity and extension of the divine male and divine female in union. How deep & welcoming & receptive is the love (divine feminine) how far does it extend (divine masculine - for self alone, this planet, the universe)

I want to show another point of view in keeping with the sutra that is more universally sound. More spiritual TBH. Not sure how I will do this yet...but I think it won't be just a comic - maybe more an illustrated book, and some illustrations with captions. 

In this illustration we see the Shakti Deva showering as an alert comes in about a sudden rise in heat in area 42. 
42 is always my nod to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy of which I will always be a fangirl and is the answer to 'life, the universe, and everything."

Working out colors and how I want to draw this and the character. What do you think?

More concept art for my feminist cosmic kama sutra comic. This shows the elevation of the spaceship The Shakti. Inspired by yurts, domes, conchshell, chintamani (the wish-granting jewel), & Indian Architecture all done with a modern take. It’s function is more like a mobile home in space and many of these can connect to create entire communities & marketplaces.

Working things out on my kama sutra-ish inspired comic I have planned for the new year. 
As I was doing the research on it I learned that Cosmic is the same word as Brahma so my Cosmic Kama Comic translates to Brahma Kama in Sanskrit. Brahma means a number of things, but primarily it is the Creator, Cosmos, All, The Divine and Kama which means Love, Desire. 
I still have to read the Kama Sutra! 
I hope to bring both humor and the spiritual aspects of it too in fun ways - it's mostly a framework for me to explore a lot of different ideas around sexuality. I am still figuring it all out. Want to just start with the artwork and inspiration and develop it. Concepts, designing and problems solving is a strong suit of mine, so it's fun to create settings and characters to be able to tell the story I want but doing concept art is not and I tend to be very impatient. This is not the project for that. 
Many years ago I designed an entire space station...and some of the ideas I had for that will probably make their way into this comic. But I have new ideas too!

The Shakti is small space ship suitable for no more than 3 or 4 living persons plus robots.  The main deck is part bridge, part boudoir, and throughout the ship the pathways are all glass enclosed waterways with fisheries, There is plenty of indoor farming and water is kept flowing and moving through waterfalls and recycled through plant systems. The ship itself is designed after a yurt and other dome homes. I am keeping the colors in magenta, purples, greens and blues. 

I wanted to have characters that could reflect the LGBTQ and non-binary communities.
NB2021AI (Enbe for short) is a Transformer/Transhuman that can adjust their sexuality or gender depending on their mood or what works best in the moment.
I have illustrated this one in their Cheer & Chasten mode, but there are also service modes, and who knows what else! 
Other characters in the story are Buzz Rightgear an Earth explorer whose ship explodes, but he is rescued by The Shakti Deva. Deva means Goddess and that will be both the title and name I think. Like Captain. 

this one is a bit NSFW but also a new fave I think it's hilarious- so please click here if you can stand to see a penis. 

They are thinking of each other...aw.

This piece is NSFW! Please go to this link if you are 18+
I introduce a new original character - Buzz Rightgear  who will be one of the main characters in the upcoming Cosmic Kama Comic in January!
​This episode- Buzz's ship is not the only thing exploding.

When you can't grow a mustache for shit - but you're still an animal.

Please donate to my Movember Art Challenge here. movember.com/m/joblakely42
Patrons got to see tomorrow's comic today.

I am super excited about Movember. A good majority of the pieces will be safe-ish for work. Still very sexy and funny and sweet and positive. I can't help myself! Here's a sneak peak of what's to come in the first few days...I would appreciate it if you are reading this and came here to see more, if you would donate to my Movember fundraising campaign. Please use this link to donate directly to the Movember Charity https://movember.com/m/joblakely42

If you are an artist or just like to draw, please consider joining the #movembart challenge team!

 Thank you!

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Elle want's to bottle him up!

I've been enjoying doing this Kinktober comic a lot. I hope you have enjoyed reading /looking at them. Here's one of the few safe for work pieces from it that I can put on my main page. If you'd like to see more, please click here: 18+ only. 

Just realized the mobile view of the slideshow doesn't work here AT ALL. So will re-do it as a blog style shortly. Hope you are enjoying them.

I have been creating a comic over on webtoons and tapas called Paris Ballad which I will start posting here soon too! The first chapter is up and the next chapters get kind of dark and with everything going on in the world right now, I really needed something lighter and more fun loving. As Inktober kind of got cancelled with the guy who started it  copied the work of a Black artist - kinktober was suggested as an alternative fun challenge. Now, being a very sex positive and kind of kinky gal myself - I thought I'd have a whole lot of fun doing this (the reference research alone!) and I am.

With the same characters from Paris Ballad, Elle and her true love Guy are on an adventure exploring femdom,  bdsm, and other kinks and the pleasures of a safe space. 

Please be aware some images are highly funny and very NSFW too. Also romantic. You've been warned. Click here to read the comic now. Posting (maybe?) daily for #kinktober2020

Please consider supporting my work at ko-fi.com/joblakely Thanks!

I have so much to update this site on and I didn't realize what I mess I had left it while I was working on other projects. With me there are always other projects. I have started a fashion brand, (my background and training is as a fashion designer) called cohereandthere.com that is creating athleisure especially designed to live a minimal lifestyle with maximum style. Comfort clothes that go further and are perfect for travel and throwing in a backpack but still feeling glam and stylish. I bring my couture background to the collection. I make everything to order so it is sustainably made. It's been very exciting and so far so good. I've also started a podcast called Ihaveatheory that is exploring intersections between physics, metaphysics, religion, consciousness society and being. My art often explores these themes and I am creating art along with the podcast episodes which gives me a chance to create work that I can update this site with! 
I am also really honored to be able to update this site with news that I won the Award of Excellence at the 2017 Chen Bochui International Children's Illustration Exhibition for my work below.