Rock On Rock Icons

This conceptual shoot - I had been planning and "envisioning" in my mind for quite a while before starting to put together.
Because I wanted to try my hand and begin learning body painting on models....body art....
I started to ask myself, "What would make body painting interesting to me? What images would I want to see?"
(That also wasn't so over the top complicated for a first time body painter.) Ha!
And it came to me: Rock icons. Great album covers. Things of this nature.
So I began to list out all the icons and pictures that really interested me to paint and I came up with a short list to begin to practice and learn to compose:
1/Rolling Stone's icon, 2/Radiohead, 3/The Slants Yellow Album, 4/David Bowie's lightning bolt, and 5/Nirvana's happy face icon --- These were much more challenging to learn to draw and paint on a body than I had thought! First it was an issue of materials. What kind of paint/powder/brush/tattoo pens, etc. It took a lot of time and experimenting. The lightning bolt and the Rolling Stone's icon became the most tricky and difficult. The Slants' Yellow Album icon...I just couldn't get the paint to drip just right. The details would make a great difference. BUT...I had the model scheduled, and the studio, and I could have spent years perfecting this craft alone. In the end, I decided to simply go for it and learn from there. And...it came out okay. BUT! I spend so much time concentrating on painting the icons correctly that I couldn't also pay my full and usual attention (in real-time in the studio) to also nuance the lighting and photography. AUGH! Still. A great experience. 
I honor the body painting artists out there....it is a vocation and studied talent in and of itself.
The great thing that came out of this small failure....? And the model Raquel (@itsjustraquel ) was beautiful and amazing!
One: a great working relationship with the model. But two...I met Simon Tam (bassist/founder of The Slants) through social media and my posting of this experimental shoot!
The lesson? Experiment. Do your art. Pursue your visions. Even if you quote, unquote "fail..." MAGIC HAPPENS.
​More soon....