The 1st Annual New Mexico Bodypainting Festival
& U.S. Bodypainting Competition
September 22-24, 2006
Albuquerque, New Mexico
It was around July or August of 2005 when I got a
call from a fellow bodypainter named Mark
Reid. I had met Mark
earlier in the year at the Face And Body Art International Convention in
Orlando and we hit it off pretty good. He called to see if I would
be available to participate in the first-ever U.S. Bodypainting
Competition as a professional instructor. He explained that he and
Pam Trent from New Mexico were organizing the New Mexico Bodypainting
Festival and that I would be joined by several other instructors
including my friend Pashur. In all honesty, I couldn't tell if
this was a pipe dream he was shooting for or something that really would
come to fruition. I said that I obviously wasn't booked for
anything else. In fact, I didn't even have a 2006 calendar to
write down any bookings over a year away. I said, "Sure, count me
in."
I had my doubts as the year passed that this
project may or may not even happen. There would be a glimmer of
hope like the launching of the website and then silence for months at a
time. Even as of a month before the event, I was hearing that the
participants were not as many as had been hoped for and there seemed to
be some disorganization as to my role in the event. I'll even admit that I
had thoughts of pulling out, but I really wanted to stay committed to
the project and to keep my word to Mark and Pam. Once I arrived at
the hotel, all of my fears were alleviated and it turned out to be an
incredible experience.
It was the night before the event and the
organizers and instructors gathered in Mark Reid's room for a champagne
toast. The rooms were top notch at the Albuquerque Embassy Suites
and the welcome comp was a granite tray of cake and chocolate covered
cherries. The group consisted of Mark and Pam, Pashur, Erika
Harrison (the
queen of henna), and photographer Rich Johnson and his girlfriend.
Pam seemed overly emotional and gave us all a heart-felt thanks for
helping her achieve this dream that she had been hoping for for a long
time. We then had a great time relaying stories and catching up
with each other. Then it was off to bed to prepare for the
weekend's festivities.
DAY 1
I had a rare opportunity to sleep in on Friday
morning since my class would not be until afternoon, but I couldn't pass
up on the chance to see Mark Reid painting his signature blue jeans
during an early morning demonstration. I had seen some of his
painted-on jeans in Orlando and I was blown away as I looked at
the model, thinking that the shirt he painted on her was very cool,
but just assumed that she was wearing real jeans. Then my jaw
dropped. If you ever get an opportunity to take this class from
him, I highly recommend it.
After that I checked out the vendor room and stocked
up on several products and then prepared for my class on
airbrushing. For my Friday class I had planned on doing a body
mural and wanted to show some 3-dimensional depth with the painting. I was
scouring magazines at the last minute for a scene from New Mexico to
illustrate. I didn't find the scenic photograph that I had hoped
for, but saw a picture of the world renown balloon festival that takes
place each year in Albuquerque. From there I mostly just used my imagination
to create the scene. I tried to incorporate some of the
tricks-of-the-trade that I learned from photography books about framing
the image with foreground elements and some art techniques
like adding haze to the distant horizon. My canvas for the piece
was the lovely model Candice Aguirre. I incorporated her arm to
transition into a tree over the top of the painting. I also want
to note that the main balloon is painted yellow with the red symbol from
the New Mexico state flag. Click on the pictures below to enlarge.
After my class, Candace was designated to be the
model for Pashur's class on airbrushing. I sat in on his class and
learned a few new tricks that he uses to get his signature images.
I consider Pashur to be a good friend of mine and I am always amazed at
how humble he is about his painting skills and how easily accessible he
is to people wanting to learn to bodypaint. Here is a picture of
Candace with Pashur's painting on her front (my painting was still on her
back by the way).
Next on the agenda was an all expenses paid Mexican
buffet (wow, the chefs in New Mexico mean business when they spice it
up!!!). The remainder of the evening was spent at the first annual
New Mexico Bodypainting Festival jam. From 7pm till midnight, all
of the attendees, models, photographers, and onlookers gathered around
as works of living art were being completed. There was a separate
room for airbrush painters and we only had a fraction of the traffic
that was populating the sponge and brush room. Still I had a good
time offering advice and suggestions to the curious and
inquisitive. I did complete two paintings with volunteers from the
audience. One painting was a reproduction of a demonic character
that I created in high school for the cover of a collection of poems
called Brainstorms. The model was a well known belly dancer in New
Mexico named Leyla-Najma and
she was able to
make her belly roll, distorting the painted face, while I did my best evil laugh (lots of fun).
The second painting was on a Santa Clause look-alike and Christmas
enthusiast. All he asked for was a back painting with a Christmas
theme and I opted for the wreath and candle. I'm having this image
made into a Christmas card that reads "Santa's Bringing Sexy
Back!"
DAY 2
Today was another opportunity to sleep in, but again
I tried to soak in as much information and ideas as I could by attending
three classes. The first was Pashurs class at 8am, then I bounced
back and fourth between Rich Johnson's class on How to Photograph
Your Artwork on Your Model and Mark Reid's class. Mark was doing a
Native American design on model Cynthia Sanchez. I had been
introduced to Cynthia the night before and I was elated to hear that she
would also be my model for my class on painting with liquid latex.
Something about Cynthia was simply captivating and I think everyone was enamored
with her, including myself. Here is a picture that I took of
Cynthia in her southwest bodypainting design by Mark Reid.
Once Mark's class was over and Cynthia had been
photographed by Rich Johnson, I took her to my room so that she could
shower off that painting only to get painted again at my class. At
many of these bodypainting conventions I have gained notoriety as the
guy that paints with liquid latex. Ironically I don't use liquid
latex very often, but there aren't very many bodypainting artists that
use it at all. For the class I chose to paint an all-original black
dominatrix outfit. The outfit included a real zipper
that was "glued" on to the outfit using the liquid latex
paint. I also used metallic Stardust from Deviant to add color and
stripes to the gloves and bustier. In the class I offered many of
the tips and techniques that I have learned in the past using liquid
latex, including using PAM Cooking Spray to take away the tackiness and
add shine to the surface. At the end of my class I was happy with
the painting, but I didn't really feel like I had out-done any of my
previous latex projects. The missing elements that pulled it all
together though was yet to come.
Sophia and Lorenzo (Colorados'
Hair Salon) were the two creative forces that
really elevated this convention to the next level. They were
invited to the party to create custom wigs and headpieces and also to
provide professional make-up to the bodypainted models (at least the
ones that didn't have their faces painted). They took on the
assignment with the gusto and creativity of master artisans and
developed some of the most outrageous and elaborate designs that I have
ever seen. For Cynthia, Lorenzo crafted a dominatrix head piece
that was made of latex rubber and included a 4' pony tail that sprouted
from gem studded cone. This completed Cynthia's look and made me
proud to have been a part of the whole look. Next we were trying
to think of some items that we could use as props for the photoshoot and
one of the convention attendees mentions that he has a box full of
whips, chains, handcuffs and other assorted items in his room.
Perfect. The paint job looked good, the headdress looked awesome,
the props were appropriate, and Cynthia not only looked stunning in her
make-up by Sophia, but she really knew how to 'turn it on"
pretending to be THE DOMINATRIX.
Here are a few studio shots of her painting.
I didn't get hardly any pictures of the preliminary
competition on Saturday night, but the paintings were wonderful and I
have a few links below to some sites that have more of these
images.
DAY 3
Several of us partied till it was pretty late on
Saturday night so it was pretty tough getting up early, but now that I
had seen the magic that Sophia and Lorenzo were doing I couldn't afford
to miss their 8am class. They made everything look so easy, but I
could never do some of the cool effects that they were conjuring
up. After their class I helped them by airbrushing some color onto
a few of their wigs. There was one wig that really caught my
attention that was like a streak of fire that emanated horizontally from
the back of the models head. In conversation I mentioned to Sophia
that my bodypainting assignment for the Sunday night competition was to
paint a racecar driver and she told me that the fire wig was created
specifically for my bodypainting. Cool! Then she mentioned
that the colors that she used to paint it were just the colored
hairsprays and she asked if I wanted to airbrush some richer colors into
the wig. I jumped at the opportunity and painted it to have more
defined flames. I also painted another one of the hairpieces with
a paisley purple and red design for one of the bodypainters in the
competition. Here are pictures of these two wigs.
As an instructor, I was not eligible to compete in
the U.S. Bodypainting Competition. However, each of the instructors were
provided with models and given bodypainting assignments for the
Sunday night Festival Extravaganza. As mentioned above, I was to
paint a racecar driver. Now that I knew that the wig transitioned
from a blue to the red-orange-yellow flames, I was able to conceptualize
what the racing suit would look like. I opted to paint a blue suit
but planned on incorporating flames into the sleeves. My plan was
also to include the logos of many of the festival vendors, sponsors, and
instructors as sponsor patches on the suit. I even snuck in the
Future-Class X Publishing circle logo on the back of the uniform and
circled the number "01" to represent the first annual
event. My model for the project was Sadie Yurista. While I
was painting her wig, a male model had walked into the convention hall
carrying a motorcycle helmet. I pounced on the opportunity and
asked him if we could use it for a prop. Everything came together
pretty well I think and here are some pictures of the painting.
I was able to stay just until the announcement of the
winners and then I had to shuttle off to the airport to come back home
to Phoenix. I had a wonderful time at the event and I hope to be a
part of it again next year. I didn't take nearly enough pictures
of the other bodypaintings at the event, but I encourage you to check
out the links below for additional images from the event.
http://www.NewMexicoBodypaintingFestival.com
http://spectaclestudio.com/nmfb/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casaverdesol/sets/72157594298822898/
http://www.dailylobo.com/
http://www.mynaughtynotions.com/new_mexico_body_painting_festival_2006.htm
http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=16425&scn=art
The
Albuquerque Tribune
Specifications: For this project I used Badger
Airbrushes and Compressors, Reel
Creations , Mehron, and
Totally Tattoo bodypaints for all airbrush applications, and Wolfe
Brothers, Kryolan, and Paradise
paints for all detailed brushwork.
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