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| "Painting on the body as a canvas is a little more challenging because your human canvass can't help but move," artist Maritza Reinbold of Lehighton explained. "Every skin is different. Every skin color is different. You have to improvise a lot." |
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| Anya Voloskova has a design with a butterfly and a pink ribbon, a symbol." I didn't want anything complicated," she said. |
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The body as a canvass was a highlight of Palmerton's Sunny Rest Resort's Idol Karaoke Weekend. While crooners in the alltogether entertained the undraped masses with covers of Sinatra and Buffet, a team of talented artists decorated the breasts and tummies of human canvasses.
The resort, which each weekend during its season draws 500 clothing-free vacationers daily, has been offering body paintings by regional artists, occasionally for many years, and in recent years, every other weekend.
On Saturday, July 14, Sunny Rest Resort hosted the Nude Recreation Week Body Painting Competition sponsored by the American Association for Nude Recreation as a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society.
The body painting event drew two professional artists and 30 human canvass participants who invited the artist's to decorate their torsos with designs ranging from floral arrangements to funky icons to fantasy scenes.
Close to 40 nudist clubs across the United States participated in the body painting contest. Each club's membership voted to select the best artwork. Photos of the body paintings were submitted to the AARN headquarters, who will select what they consider to be the top 10 ten photos in each category for the general public to vote for online.
For the event, the body painting artists volunteered their time and materials. "I love body painting and I love doing it for the American Cancer Society," said artist Maritza Reinbold of Lehighton. "I'm a survivor for five years now. I had breast cancer and I like to contribute to society." She also likes to paint on a woman's body to create a prettier breast."
"Painting on the body as a canvas is a little more challenging because your human canvass can't help but move," she explained. "Every skin is different. Every skin color is different. You have to improvise a lot.
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Bob, a professional artist from New Jersey, specializes in fantasy paintings. In his normal work, he has created art for children's books, science fiction, fantasy book covers, trading cards, and rock 'n roll band T-shirts.
"I've been doing body painting the last couple of years," he said. "It's not my specialty, but I am getting better at it. When I have a client, I ask them what they want, and I show them examples."
"Bobby wanted to paint me," said Sally Mastersen. "He asked me last week, and when he came this morning, he had the sketch all done and ready. It's a painting of a beautiful fairy looking towards the stars. It speaks to me. She is naked and flying. It's like a beautiful photograph."
"Some people find body painting interesting and a good way to break into nudism," said Halsie Shoemaker, manager at Sunny Rest Resort. "They think they can be nude and be painted, kind of having clothes on but not really. It's an interesting way to get into nudism and to celebrate it as well."
Body painting may predate cave drawings by hundreds of thousands of years. Covering themselves with painting materials made from ochre or manganese dioxide, early humans decorated their bodies for tribal rituals as a means to bring themselves together collectively. These practices continue today among the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and part of Africa. Face painting also goes back to Neanderthal times for hunting, religious reasons, and for military purposes such as camouflage, or expression of brotherhood.
Modern body painting is said to have been born at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, where Max Factor and his model were arrested for causing a public disturbance. Factor was demonstrating his new make-up formulated for Hollywood movies through the art of body painting. |
