Our Body Painting Experience [for our Holiday Card]
PAINTING EXPERIENCE FOR HOLIDAY
Entire Productions' Holiday Card. From left: Tyler, Natasha, Vhary, Jacqueline What I love about working at Entire Productions is that nothing here is impossible. You want risqué holiday cards, an image of topless women with only our backs painted? You got it!
Scene: A weekday afternoon in line for coffee at Starbucks. We are surrounded by quiet, focused men and women in boardroom attire while we compete with the group of men behind us to see who can laugh the loudest in a public space. Jacqueline, Natasha and I are talking about branding and how important it is to make an impression. Jacqueline throws out the idea of Sandra Leathley painting instruments on our bodies and Natasha suggests we do it for Christmas, that our being topless would really make an impression. I call dibs on the violin and suggest that Jacqueline get a saxophone painted on her arm. None of it’s serious talk, we’re just wasting time in the line for coffee. Then Natasha says, “I think this is a great idea. Let's do it.”
Upon contacting Sandra, the idea quickly changed from painting instruments (too cumbersome) to rendering the San Francisco skyline on our backsides, iconic symbols such as the Golden Gate Bridge, a cable car, Coit Tower, and the Transamerica Pyramid. Sandra's one of those people who does many things well: she has all sorts of characters ready to go and is herself a highly-skilled photographer, costume maker, and face and body painter extraordinaire.
We then found photographer, Philippe Lee, an artistic-adventurous type with a studio on Treasure Island. It is beautiful, a huge warehouse with many different rooms, each decorated in a different style: One with saturated, bright red walls and a nook full of Turkish cushions; another with a 60s Style refrigerator and walls covered in corrugated tin. The room where we got painted was near the top of the warehouse, just below a huge decorated plastic tree with a swing set hanging from its branches.
The painting took several hours--mine was the shortest time, Jacqueline’s the longest. I spent a good amount of it in black leggings with a drape over my chest eating sandwiches and talking shop, waving my one blue hand around and getting comfortable with the sight of my similarly clad coworkers.
Tyler after shoot in Jade Studio's Asian Inspired Room the actual photography session was great. Philippe kept it short and managed to get some gorgeous shots. The whole time, we were all laughing and joking, and trying to get our positions right. Afterward, I felt like I’d been through something funny and yet significant with my colleagues, like a pie-fight and a wedding put together.
By Vhary Leggat, Entire Productions Office Manager Extraordinaire
