Welcome to Wiser Now’s weekly email blast which reflects my eclectic interests and, I hope, yours. This week, my focus is on Body Painting because July 8 is officially Body Painting Day. Body painting has been around since paleolithic times, according to this article, when it was used in cultural and religious ceremonies, and for war, hunting, and bodily decoration. More recently, face painting has been delighting children at
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fairs, fetes, and fundraisers. Many adults attending sporting events add team logos and colors to their cheeks and noses, but full body painting is an altogether different and amazing art. This week’s Wiser Now Wednesday is heavy on pictures. Eye candy indeed.
I hope you find these offerings fun, and perhaps even useful, and welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com) And if you haven’t yet pressed the subscribe button so this newsletter doesn’t go to spam, please do so now.
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The Quirky Quote
You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously.
~ Sophia Bush
The Quirky Facts
The founder and promoter of the July 8 Body Painting Day is New York City artist Andy Golub who began this public event on the streets of NYC in 2007. He started by using ordinary people as models – people who agreed to have their nude bodies painted for all to see. Because this is a family-friendly publication, it’s important to point out that the event is about self-expression and body acceptance. It may not be quite G-rated (even G-strings are optional) but it is not about sexuality. As the picture suggests, the raucous event has grown to 40 artists and 60 models (who now need to fill out an application and pay a fee based on their ability to pay), and the 2022 NYC event has been moved back to July 24 and relocated to Union Square Park. The painted models pay an additional fee to ride a double decker bus to share “their living art with people throughout the city.”
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But as this article notes, Andy Golub really is an accomplished body painter who uses models lying on the ground to form a surface for his colorful paintings and are then photographed from above. And it is this kind of body painting I really want to tell you more about.
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What I really want you to see
Unlike paintings that are hung in museums, body art is temporary and soon washed off. It can, however, be photographed and hung in museums, and there are many museum-worthy body painters. I am highlighting a few, but be sure to click on the links here and under Resources for many more astounding images.
Shown at right is an example of the work of Craig Tracy. One of the most-admired contemporary body painting artists around today, this ‘Tiger’ project was created to help save the endangered South China tiger.
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At left is Tree Frog by Italian painter Johannes Stötter consisting of five made-up bodies. According to the same article, “his illusions are so precise that it's only through moving video that one can decipher the models painted to perfection,” as a video accompanying the article shows. Mr. Stötter has won numerous awards including the 2012 World Body Painting champion.
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Trina Merry is a master of blending her models into their surroundings. In her series Sweet Land of Liberty, Ms. Merry poses her subjects in front of iconic patriotic landmarks. Shown here, a model near the Jefferson Memorial. Learn more about the series here.
British artist Emma Fay uses the human body to express a variety of social concepts like calming yoga.
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As you can see from the two models’ one-legged poses, being a model for a body painter often requires flexibility and endurance. This article offers detailed advice about how to make your model as comfortable as possible given that he or she (or they) might need to hold a position for hours and become quite cold being nude or nearly so. The advice includes tips for hydration (with a straw) and taking breaks to move and facilitate circulation: “[T]ell them to avoid locking their knees as they can quickly pass out if they do that for several minutes.” And then there’s the practical: “We suggest leaving the underwear area painting to the end since your model might need to go to the bathroom a few times during the painting.”
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You can also create body painting landscapes that glow in the dark. American photographer and artist John Poppleton had always been fascinated by black lights, and after becoming bored with ordinary wedding and portrait photography, he started creating what he calls Bodyscapes.
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And some artists aim for a more whimsical, optical illusional effect. The body painting at left was found at https://bodyartguru.com/amazing-body-painting-designs/ but did not include any artist names or links. A warning: While this image is amusing, it’s easy to freak yourself out by Googling “body painting optical illusions images.”
There are so many more artists to amaze you:
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I also recommend this 2016 short video of “5 Incredible Body Painting Artists” featuring Craig Tracy, Cho San, Nikki Shelley, Kay Pike, Gesine Marwedel
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The Featured Product
This week: Me. I provide live and recorded webinars on dozens of topics related to keeping our brains engaged even when they are deteriorating. If you’d like to know more, send me a note at Kathy@WiserNow.com.
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Please Spread the Word
WNW is an award-winning publication used by activity professionals, teachers, aging adults and their grandkids, and lots of people in between. Please share it, and if you represent an organization that would like a customized version or would consider becoming a sponsor, send me a note at Kathy@WiserNow.com.
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Directions for Sharing
Each week, the links to the current and seven previous Wiser Now Wednesdays are provided in the archive (“WN Wed Archive” on the far right of the menu bar). Click on the issue you want to share, and when it appears, at the top of the screen you will see “Share” with an f for Facebook and a bird for Twitter. Click on them to share to your contacts or just copy the URL at the top of your screen and send it to them in an email. Thank you!
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The Questions
- Have you ever had your face or parts of your body painted? If so, did you enjoy doing so? If not, would you like to now?
- Do you have one or more tattoos? If so, how and why did you choose the design(s)? If not, what design would you say is symbolic of your life?
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The Quiz - Can you answer these quirky questions about our bodies?
The logical quiz to go with body painting is a quiz about unusual human body facts. Make your best guesses.
1. We may be unique human beings, but parts of our bodies are replacing themselves every day. Our skin, which weighs about 15% of our total body weight, does not shed all at once like a snake’s, but we lose millions of skin cells daily, so within ____ days, our outer layer of skin will have completely replaced itself.
___ 25 ___30 ___ 35
2. The acid in our stomach is only slightly less acidic than battery acid, strong enough to dissolve copper and zinc. (Acid reflux causes pain because the lining of your esophagus is being burned by stomach acid.) Cells that line our stomachs produce mucus to protect it from those acidic juices, and they also secrete bicarbonate to neutralize stomach acid. Nevertheless, our stomach lining must regenerate itself regularly to keep from being eaten by the acids. How often do we get a new lining?
___ Once every few days ___ About once a week ___ Once a month
3. Even our bones regenerate themselves. Our skeleton replaces itself about every ___ years.
___ 4 ___ 6 ___10
4. In fact, every one of our body parts can repair itself except one. That one is our:
___ Teeth ___ Liver ___ Corneas
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5. Our eyes are the size they are always going to be by the time we are three months old, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
___ True ___ False
6. Babies have nearly 100 more bones than the 206 bones in their adult counterparts, because as they grow their bones fuse, but they are missing one key adult bone which will not form until they are between 2 and 6 years old. Where is it?
___ In their fingers ___ In their legs ___ In their skulls
7. Some parts of our body are surprisingly strong. For example, your pinky finger can bear about ___ of the hand strength.
___ 50% ___ 65% ___ 75%
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8. Not to be outdone, your big toe can bear ___ of your body weight.
___ 25% ___ 40% ___ 50%
Bonus fact:
When we yelp from hitting our “funny bone” it’s not funny, but it might be called that because we are actually hitting the spot where our ulnar nerve rests against our upper arm bone called the humerus bone, which sounds like humorous.
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Answers to the quiz
1. 30. You may ask then, if we lose our skin, why do tattoos stay in place? The answer is that tattoo ink is not in your skin cells; it's in your immune system, specifically white blood cells, known as macrophages, which, because they can't break down tattoo ink, stay in place to protect the skin.
2. Once every few (3-4) days
3. 10
4. Teeth
5. True. Plus, (Oh, joy) earlobes are known to get elongated from gravity.
6. In their legs. Babies are missing their kneecaps, which begin as soft cartilage and harden into the patella bone in early childhood. Added info: Of our 206 bones, we have 27 in each hand and 26 in each foot (106 total). That's 51% of all the bones in our body! There are also 26 bones in our spines (12% of our total bones) and 22 bones in our skull (10% of your total bones).
7. 50%
8. 40%
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My multiple goals are to amuse and inspire you, to share what I and people whom I admire are doing, to stimulate your curiosity and spur you to action. I hope you enjoyed this offering. You can access previous issues here. I welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com)
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