Painted on jeans body art at Fluert

fleurt grand opening scottsdale

November 17th, 2006

The Shops at Gainey Village
Scottsdale, Arizona

Blush was a highly successful upscale fashion boutique nestled in the Shops at Gainey Village. In November, the time had come for the owners to close the doors for good in order to introduce the world to it's sequel. The grand opening of their new adventure in retailing was still located in the Gainey Village shops where their reputation had fluoursed, but the new shop would be located across the parking lot and would bear a new name: Fleur't.

On November 17th, owners Stephano Lalwani and Kori Davidson spared no expense to make the star-studded grand opening a success. Attendees included the Carrie Ann Inaba (judge from Dancing with the Stars), Louis Van Amstel (international dance champion also on Dancing with the Stars), Haley Marie Norman (Deal or No Deal, Young and the Restless), Jermaine Dye (Chicago White Sox outfielder), Matt Williams (Arizona Diamondback from the 2001 World Series Champions team) and Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) among others.

My role in the celebration was to paint several models. At the outset, the plan was for me to paint 4 models, but when it came down to the wire, only two models were available and ready to do the project. The first model, Christina, was provided by Professional Events modeling agency. My directive was to paint a Fleur de Lis on her which was the symbolic logo for the new boutique. I opted to incorporate a stylized lingerie top and used lace stencils with Temptu airbrushed body paints. The color scheme was fuschia/pink and black/gun-metal with a gold Fleur de Lis. I was going for a lingerie look with painted-on lace stockings and gloves and I was hoping to incorporate a little bit of New Orleans flair with the skin-tight striped top. Christina's painting was done behind closed doors at the Blush boutique while the event at Flueur't was setting up. We were able to fit in a photoshoot before the grand opening and it took place in a dressing room painted pink. Here are two of the shots.

Fluer de Lis bodypainting Painted lace and striped lingerie body art in the mirror reflection I like the way the line goes up the back Close up of Christina at Fleur't

For the grand opening event, Christina was set loose to mingle with the crowd while I did a live bodypainting demonstration for the patrons. Stephano's request that I paint bluejeans on the model. I asked what he wanted to be painted on top and he had the brilliant idea of leaving her topless throughout the night, but always covering herself with her arms and hands. It turned out to be a truly sexy motif. This model was Paris Harshman who I had been fortunate to work with before for the Maxim-Budlight event several months earlier.

For the jeans painting, I started with an airbrushed base of alcohol based black paint from Temptu. Next I employed some techniques that I had learned from the "master of painted-on blue jeans" Mark Reid. If you haven't seen Mark Reid's bodypaintings, I encourage you to check out www.MarkReidBodyArt.com . I used a mixture of blue, white, and black water based paints from Mehron. The belt was real (a remnant from heavy metal days on the stage) and the belt loops were real too. Paris was hoisted up on a plexiglass platform lit from below with blue LED lights while I stood on the floor below to paint her. It was very theatrical, but the lighting made it very difficult to see what I was doing. Once we were finished with the painting, everyone took turns getting their picture taken with the painted models. After that I took Paris back over to Blush to do a private photoshoot in front of the jeans display. Here are some shots from the session.

Painted-on jeans at blush Painted-on jeans for grand opening topless with blue jeans Paris in blue jeans without a top

 

 

 

 


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Unless noted otherwise, Photography and Artwork by Mark Greenawalt c2006
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