Cheongsam dress
Hmm - a cheongsam dress, I thought. Good idea. Doesn't extend
beyond the body margins - a good, paintable image. Obviously
needs an Asian model as 'canvas'. That could be a problem.
So - I put an advertisement on the local modelling web page
(http://www.allaussiemodels.com)."
About two days later, I got an email from Jasmine. "Interested
in being painted.". We arranged a nice safe coffee-and-chat
meeting at a cafe, and discussed the idea. Only then did it
emerge that she hadn't seen my advertisment - and the
timing was pure fluke. So - somebody up there is looking after
this project?
Props? Well - steal my wife's fan for the day. What else could I possibly need? Unfortunately I uttered this obviously rhetorical
question within earshot of Bill Poon - chief photographer, and
answerer of rhetorical questions. "Well, a parasol, of course.",
he said.
I had some balsa wood left over from a recent prop-making
saga - so I could just knock one up from a bit of balsa
and a few sheets of lunch-wrap tissue? Ha..! Much
newly bought additional balsa wood later - and another roll of lunch wrap,
and several tubes of glue - and ...
Well - we had a parasol anyway.
Nah - we won't need to paint the back? Well - I've been
caught before, where the discovery that "oops - that pose did
expose part of the back" has elicited the solemn vow that
I won't get caught again. So - we did the back as well.
Images and text copyright R. Edgecombe, 2002