Body Painting: People as Canvas

Exclusive Body painting and tattoos are as ubiquitous among nudists as are the hot tub and the horseshoe toss. In this first installment, we explore body painting.
What is it about body painting that’s so attractive? We asked two very different body paint artists for their opinion. One is Dewayne Flowers, a recognized “bodyartist” based in Columbus, Georgia USA, the other is Rick Mills, a more traditional body painter from Shrewsbury, England.
For Flowers, body painting is his art, and this is clearly evident when you see photographs of his extraordinary work. For Mills, it’s more of a hobby, not something he makes money from, although he agrees it’s a form of art, particularly with regards to “trompe-l’oeil” body painting such as that done by Joanne Gair (or Flowers, for that matter), he told us.
Read on to learn more about this fascinating topic…

According to Flowers, body painting is a more challenging art form: “You have to start and finish a bodypainting no matter how simple or complex…An artist can walk away from his or her work in another medium and return later with fresh hands and eyes. Body artists have to stay with their work until it’s complete. I have spent 10 hours on one painting before, the model and I, that is”. He also added that in just the last few years, it’s gained acceptance as an art form, thanks in great part to the internet.
We asked both why they thought body painting had so much appeal to naturists. Mills replied that “it’s a fun thing to try if you are naked; it’s something you can do with friends; it feels nice to be painted”, while Flowers was more analytical, saying that “it’s a way for them to express themselves the way others do with clothing and still retain the nudity of their lifestyle”.
Both bodyartists are cautious about what paints they use on their models, Flowers even using himself as a test subject for new paints: “If I have a red arm after a test, i know not to use it”. Paints are water-based in general.
Mills participated in several body painting competitions, both in the UK and Austria. Flowers hasn’t thus far, but is considering it. Mills did win a big prize from body painting: his wife! They met in Birmingham, UK, while he was painted-up as the devil (a sly one, we reckon!)
The photo above is one of Flowers’ stunning works, and he told us that a security guard came by, asking what he was doing there. Flowers answered him that he was just taking photos of the brick wall. The guard left, satisfied. “He never saw the nude woman standing there”, he tells us.
An abundance of photos are found on both these artists’ sites, just follow the links below…

Related Links:

  • Dewayne Flowers’ site
  • Rick Mills’ site

    Photo courtesy of Dewayne Flowers. Copyright Dewayne Flowers, www.fleshandcolor.com

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    New Nudist Hotel Opens in Uruguay

    Posada La Chihuahua has opened its doors near the popular and legal nudist beach of the same name in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The naturist hotel is gay-friendly and offers services in English. Owner Adriana Barca told us visitors can be nude everywhere on the property except in the dining room. The hotel is only about 900 feet from the beach. Rates range from 30 dollars per person in high season to 15 dollars per person in low season, based on double occupancy.
    The only other nudist accommodation, whose name we withhold on purpose, we can’t tell you much about because when we contacted the owner of that establishment, we were not warmly received, and later we learned that this person we don’t even know slandered us in a nudist forum, for reasons we cannot comprehend. Needless to say, we will not be reviewing said competition, but will further report on Posada La Chihuahua.

    For more information, visit their site here

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  • Destinations: Argentina and Uruguay
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    Nekkid Band: Nudists Let the Music Die!

    Exclusive
    We interviewed Shane Gentry, lead singer of the Nekkid Monday Band, the funk/blues trio that made headlines because they play completely naked. We were surprised to learn that the Nekkid Monday Band is no longer. We asked him what happened, and here’s the long and the short of it…

    Nudist Day - When was the decision made to drop Nekkid, and was it only the money issue that led to that decision?

    Shane Gentry - “It wasn’t a matter of money totally, it was just a lack of support. We created this band because of our own interests in the nudist lifestyle and it just so happened we were all musicians and it was a no brainer at that point to put out this record. We did have quite a bit of success and lots of press which was all good but what we really wanted was the support of the nudist community and it just wasn’t there.”

    ND - Were all members of the band nudists?

    SG - “Nudism is as much a state of mind as well as of being, so yes in that respect, we were all nudists. Neither of us had been to a nudist resort when we started this project but all three of us did enjoy nude time at home. Honestly, where we live, it had never crossed my mind to look for a nudist resort. There have been many hours spent nude in the woods and anywhere else I could be so. I think Cheri Alexander, Travelites in South Carolina, summed it up best: Nude when practical and clothed when necessary.”

    ND - Now that you’ve “disbanded”, what would you say to the nudist resorts and clubs where you played?

    SG - “I would say thank you for being the few out of a huge industry that understood what we were trying to accomplish and allowed us to come do our thing.”

    ND - What about your fans in the nudist community? Were they, and are they supportive?

    SG - “We do and still have a few Nekkid Monday Band junkies out there. But for the most part, the most interest and support we got was from the textile community. Oddly enough we just can’t bring ourselves to play this music clothed. It just wouldn’t be right!”

    ND - Would the Nekkid band come back to life should someone make the right offer for a gig?

    SG - “Absolutely ! What a lot of people don’t understand is as much as we love what we do, this is a business. We are also all professional musicians and on different levels we all play for our total or partial living. So to go across the country or out of the country just to say we did it doesn’t pay the bills! Welcome to the music business. The record cost thousands of dollars to make, plus promo, and etc.,etc.,etc. That expense has to be made up somewhere like live shows and cd sales or it all of a sudden becomes a bad business decision. So… absolutely, if the right deal crossed our path we would love to go do another show!”

    ND - Has the “guys who play naked” concept been a boon or a bane in your “textile” music?

    SG -”We are definetely ‘those guys that play naked’! We love it . It gives us a chance to tell folks how wonderful it is and that it’s not what they have in their mind that nudism is. So even when we’re not playing a Nekkid Monday gig, we’re still promoting the clothes-free lifestyle like crazy!”

    ND - Where can people get your cd?

    SG - “The cd is still available at www.cdbaby.com , www.amazon.com , walmart.com , itunes.com , the list goes on forever. but its as available as it can possible be online. Its up on evey digital download site plus numerous music websites. It should be very easy to find.”

    Related Links:

  • CD Baby
  • Amazon
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    Interview with Stephen Crowley: Portrait of a Nudist and a Cartoonist

    Stephen Crowley We recently contacted Stephen Crowley, an Australian who writes, draws and publishes nudist cartoons such as the series “Loxie and Zoot”. The nudist cartoon genre has few representatives, so he is one of a rare breed!
    His work is of very high quality and its our greatest pleasure to introduce you to this interesting artist and fellow nudist, which hopefully will coax you to read his delightful cartoons if you haven’t already.
    Below is a transcript of our exchange, word for word…

    Nudist Day - How did the idea for Loxie and Zoot first come up and what is, in your mind, your target audience?

    Stephen Crowley - It was one of those cases that the idea just came to me. Can’t say how or why. I was doing natural health comics and it occured to me that naturism was a natural health issue. In the end, neither concept mixed well (a bit like water and oil) but I did half page comic for an Australian nudist magazine in 1997 that featured Loxie and Zoot. After that I took the comics to the internet in 1998 and the concept has been evolving ever since. The current incarnation is The Bare Pit - which features characters from the original Loxie & Zoot series [View here] at the moment it’s set in a fantasy faerie land… and in case anyone thinks I’ve lost the plot completely it’s actually based on a story I started telling on the original site back in 2000. As for my target audience it’s basically anyone who enjoys reading it - I know a fair number of nudists enjoy it but so do non-nudists. Some of the latter have admitted to trying out nudism as a result (or at the very least, feeling better about their body and nudity) - but I am not on any mission to convert people (not anymore!). Considering how many nudists are online it is sometimes disappointing that more of them aren’t reading the comics, but I guess they just don’t like comics!

    ND - How has it been received by the general community? The press? By other cartoonists?

    SC - The online version of the comics have an overlap audience, that being people who read comics online. There is a community of webcartoonists and my nudist cartoons are known to varying degrees by some within that community. I think I’m probably regarded as that crazy nudist guy by most and they’re not sure what to think. Fellow cartoonists rank a work on its merits rather than the content and they have been very helpful in getting me to lift my game from a writing and artistic perspective. Overall response from the general public has ranged to acceptance to some ridicule. I ignore the latter, they tend to be childish and their comments indicate they have problems with themselves rather than with me. I’m always happy to receive constructive criticism and I think the most useful and consistent criticism from fellow cartoonists and objective public has been that the earlier cartoons (specifically The Koala Bares storyline) were a bit preachy and overly focused on the ‘nudists/nudism are great’ theme. Both are valid criticism and I’ve been at pains to move away from those weaknesses in my storytelling. Criticisms aside, though people who warm to my comics, regardless of whether they are nudists, cartoonists or neither seem to like the characters, the gentle humour and the art.

    ND - Do you just do L & Z, or do you also have others?

    SC - I have one other comic that is currently active online. Called ‘Magellan’ it is nothing like my nudist comic although I suppose there are writing and artistic similarities. Magellan is a super-hero comic which tries to take a fresh and different look at a very overworked genre. It has been well received even picking up some peer-based and popularity-based award nominations over the past few years. It is interesting and challenging balancing two different projects at once but usually helps me keep a fresh perspecive on both.Magellan can be found here. There are currently over 275 pages of action adventure - but it is unlike my nudist comics, containing pretty much no nudity, plus a fair bit of violence and swears.

    ND - Do you make a living from just cartooning?

    SC - No. It would be nice if I did! I had hoped sales from The Koala Bares books would help to make me self-sufficient but that didn’t happen as sales were much lower than hoped (ie disappointing). I might be a reasonable cartoonist but I’m lousy at selling myself and also have few resources or money to be able to do that. I do make a little bit of money here and there. Good thing I do it for the love not the money.

    ND - You’ve done L & Z in print and online. What are the plans for the
    future? Perhaps produce an animated version?

    SC- Animated would be fun for sure but only possible with the backing of some company willing to give me a free creative run on it. I certainly don’t have the time, money or resources to even think about such a project. For the time being there is no plan to sell ay more books until I sell the remaining stock of my first publication… and that doesn’t look like happening anytime soon. For the moment I will just continue with my online project.


    Stephen Crowley
    Cartoons and photo published with permission of author: Copyright Stephen Crowley


    Related Links:

  • Loxie and Zoot Site
  • Magellan Site

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    Second Nude Marathon a Success

    Nudist Day attended the second annual naked race that took place December 3, 2006 at Yatan Rumi, a naturist reserve in Argentina. Despite the fact that they were about half the number of participants as compared to last year’s event, organizer Miguel Suarez proclaimed it a success. One might suspect that the frigid temperature and rain that greeted the start of the day dissuaded many from attending (it turned out to be a beautiful day just after the marathon ended).The real purpose of the sporting event is to publicize both naturism and the club, and that goal was apparently achieved.
    The winner of the 6000 meter version was Ivan, the same amateur runner from nearby Cordoba who also won the previous edition. Alexandra interviewed the lad and he told us he wasn’t really a nudist: He just takes part in any and all footraces he can, naked or dressed! Curiously, all his competitors took the wrong turn and didn’t actually run the full length of the race. This didn’t matter to the judges, who awarded medals anyway, including one special award for the lone child runner. Only two women ran the course, compared to eight last year.
    Nudism is still in its infancy in this part of the world, but each day it sees more adepts joining its ranks. Perhaps the biggest limitation is the small number of nudist venues in this large country: Only one clothing optional beach and a handful of clubs, all of which except Yatan Rumi are located near Buenos Aires. Perhaps well publicized events such as this marathon will further help build public awareness.

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  • Nude with the Condors at Yatan Rumi
  • Destinations: Argentina and Uruguay

    Yatan Rumi

    Yatan Rumi

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