Playtime cover model, Mandi Ray, was the main attraction at the annual Halloween blowout for Playtime Magazine.  She arrived at the party in a hot little police costume and turned every head in the room.  As the October covergirl, she was in high demand from fans wanting their picture taken with her and others wanting her to autograph their copy of the magazine.  Mandi was nude on the cover of the magazine, but all private parts were masked by a huge set of strategically placed monster hands.  I had first seen the cover about a week before the party when Playtime was talking to me about doing some bodypainting at the event.  My first thought was to loosely recreate the cover image by painting the monster hands on Mandi Ray.  Everyone, including Mandi fortunately, was enthusiastic about the idea and the rest is history.

Elixir nightclub had been decorated to the hilt by the hosts Jay & Jen from Chicago.  Everything you might find in a haunted house was on display amongst the cobwebs, stobe lights, and fog.  I'm sure there were sounds of batwings and howling wolves in the distance, but they were drowned out by the thumping P.A. with mixes of rock, techno, and house.  Most of the people were in costume and everyone was dead set on having a good time.

By the time the party was in full gear, Mandi and I took the stage.  All eyes were on her as the police uniform came off and she prepared to be painted.  A lucky volunteer was given the task of groping her breasts from behind while I traced around his fingers.  I had assured Mandi that the painting would only take about a half-hour to complete so I knew I would have to work quickly.  I first painted a white base coat within the lines of the hands with a brush.  With only the dim, red stage lights to guide me, I mixed a gray-green color and sponged it onto the white base coat.  I used Totally Tattoo paints for this project.  The finishing touches were the stitched cuts, the fingernails, and the metal cuff and chain.  Once the painting was complete, Mandi Ray was off to the VIP area for another round of meeting & greeting the public.  This time she was only wearing paint on top.

Earlier in the evening, there was a drawing for a custom bodypainting and the winner was Danielle.  We were introduced and discussed several ideas for her bodypainting prize.  The winning idea ended up being a blue dragon flying across her chest.  Again my time frame was tight and I didn't have the opportunity to refine some aspects of the painting, but Danielle seemed to really enjoy the feel of the brushes and the process of being bodypainted.  She hung out the rest of the night and was gracious enough to do some poses with Mandi Ray at the end of the evening.

There were quite a few celebrities in attendance.  A few that I had the opportunity to chat with included the Playtime top brass (Bill Crosby, Jim Keeler, and Brad Gould), adult entertainment star Dakota Rae, make-up artist Roberta Duran, and photographer DB.  The night grew very wild as the alcohol started to kick in and several of the skimpiest costumes became even skimpier as the girls drew huge crowds by dancing on the stage.  A good time was had by all.  Even the friendly neighborhood Spiderman took the night off from fighting villains to hang with the girls of Playtime.

The October issue of the magazine also included an article about me and my work.  To read it, click here.  Also feel free to click on the pictures below for several other images from the event.