Progress shots

Practice day

For the first time, I had an assistant painter on this project. Tori is doing a study of body-painting as part of a school art project. And - she also volunteered to be 'train consultant'. So - the material was all neatly cut out and pinned, and just needed to be stitched up on my wife's just-serviced sewing machine. No problem....

But - Murphy's Law applied - and the machine began mangling the thread - which is why it was serviced in the first place. So - out with the needle and thread - endless hours of stabbed fingers, mutter, mutter, curse, fume. Eventually we had a train - and when the sewing machine went back in for a re-service, it turned out to be just dud thread in it - and the machine works fine after buying a new reel of cotton. Aaaaagh!

Thanks Tori. If I'd cut out the train myself, it wouldn't have turned out 1/2 so well. (This, of course, is why Tori is called a - wait for it - 'trainee'. [I write all my own scripts. You can hardly tell, can you?]

A week or so before the shoot, we did a practice run, to sort out a few details - including how to do those peacock eye feathers. This involved trying a few techniques - and making some written notes. Where better to write the notes, than on the 'canvas' - so here is Jasmine not just as a model, but a notepad as well.

The original train - when it was just a straight piece of material. (I also got to play director/photographer .. Lean this way, push that hip ... no idea what I was doing of course.)

And then the day of the shoot

Getting started. Do we have enough dark blue left?

Starting the blue fade.

Detail of top

Shadows are in, gold edging next..

My first attempt at normal eye makeup

Being checked out by the boss..(I passed)

Ooops! Typical face-painter strangle-hold!

Balsa-wood-&-glitter, navel-hiding jewel!

Trusty ski-poles for arm painting.

The team who brought you this extravaganza

Bill finally made it to the other side of the camera.

He takes direction well though - hip forward, pout those lips ...

Tori - a huge help - and a delight to work with.

.. and Jasmine. What a canvas. What a model.

Thanks

Thanks to Bill - photos, studio, coffee, patience. Always a pleasure to work with. Bill has a portfolio on the web. [Bill shoots a lot of portfolios for models, so aspiring models should look no further.]

Thanks to Tori - train-making, enthusiasm, paint buffing, and so much fun.

Jasmine - always patient, always enthusiastic, a pleasure to paint. Jasmine also has a web page.

Yvonne (my long suffering wife) - all the help with the sewing, the trust and support. Thanks.

Images and text copyright R. Edgecombe, 2002