Recently a memory popped up on my Facebook page of a Body Art project from 11 years ago. It was fun thinking back to this and other early Body Art adventures and I thought I would share some of my memories from this particular day of experiences.
When I first started Body Painting I was keen for every opportunity to paint, create and share this art form. Fundraising events were a great platform to paint and create awareness about causes that were close to my heart. I approached the Cancer Society with an idea around a body painting for Daffodil Day, my contact there was excited about the idea and the wheels were set in motion.
The day was to start on Breakfast TV - the then Sunrise show with live crosses to the weatherman that featured the body art in progress and other fun initiatives that people were doing on daffodil day. The concept was drawn, props were made, hand made prosthetic nipple covers were crafted in the shape of a Bee and a Daffodil and very importantly a willing and enthusiastic model was found.
When I arrived in the Auckland Domain that morning it was still that deep velvety darkness before dawn.I dragged the large column patio heater across the park to the small encampment of TV crew and started to set up my make up station. It was freezing! and the early painting was done with thick blankets wrapped around as much of the model as possible, just enough of a gap to allow me to paint! Then when the cameras were about to film we would both shed our layers and look casual and try not allow our teeth to chatter. This rhythm of painting, revealing and rugging up again continued throughout the morning until 9am when the show came to an end, with our design slowing evolving.
This is the stage we were at by the end of our time in the domain.The sun was now up and the day was promising to be beautiful. We then relocated up the hill to the sunny, calm and grateful warmth of the Cancer Society HQ. The painting was finished here, plus finishing 3D touches including glueing on a tiny flax Kete with fresh Daffodils. The next part of the day that had been arranged was to meet up with the MORE FM Radio station crew down in Newmarket to join the small army of other Volunteer Daffodil Day collectors on the streets.
Due to tricky parking, the issues with painted models travelling by car and the close proximity of Newmarket we decided to walk the 10 minutes down the hill to Broadway. This gave us a little taste of what was to come with people stopping to take a photo and smiling and waving as we trouped down towards the bustling shopping area. We also chanced upon the most perfect orange wall which demanded we stop and take a photo in front of it.
Once on the streets of Broadway Newmarket ,as the artist my job was now done and I just had the fun of standing back and watching the reactions of people who walked past and popped donations into our models bucket.
It was a really fun time, we created a bit of a stir, people were coming out of offices as they had heard about us and lots of donations were being collected and smiles were being shared.
The radio station were getting ready to move on to their next location and the lunchtime crowds of Newmarket were thinning out but we were still buzzing and felt like we wanted to get some extra mileage from our efforts. We had a chat & brainstormed where we could go on a Friday afternoon in Auckland where there would be throngs of people ....... I called my husband and asked if he would pick us up and take us down to the Waterfront to the Viaduct basin. Our lovely model skipped in and out of bars and restaurants to the delight of the late lunchers and by the end of the day our bucket was full and so were our hearts.
Our feet were sore! We were happy and exhausted ,a big day out, a fabulous experience and some great memories and of course the opportunity to paint !
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