Berlin Bodypainting Day.

Unfortunately I hardly slept at all - I was laying awake, thinking about today's bodypainting day.  After a hearty breakfast, an energy drink or two 'down the hatch', we picked up our umbrellas and a bag for our clothes and headed out of the hotel.

Our walk through Berlin to Checkpoint Charlie took about 45 minutes.  There was a lot of decay but there was also work being done around and about the city.  Hopefully in time Berlin will be a vibrant city once again, old mixed in with the new/modern.

Andy and his team were setting up the registration desk and painting "stations".  Mehron (bodypainting makeup sponsors) had set up a table with colourful palettes of paint for the artists.  The area was 'buzzing'.  Would-be attendees were waiting excitedly to register; tourists and locals were hanging around, watching and waiting, wondering what was going on and what was going to happen.

Artists registered first and then the human canvases; artists assigned to a numbered 'station' and the models assigned to an artist.  Some artists were able to paint more than one person.  We were assigned to a lovely English lass who painted us, starting off with me in the hope that the body paint would help keep me from sunburnt when the sun came out.  I could have used sunscreen but the paint may not have settled very well so decided to do without.  Paul waited patiently on the side, watching our artist as she set to work.  It was her first time to paint people.  At first Paul wondered what the hell she was up to but it soon started to make sense.  She had no ideas but let her brush and paint colours guide her.  I was none the wiser and just hoped that the finished product would look ok.  After she finished, our artist produced a small mirror so that I could see what I looked like, more or less. The artwork was very modern with blues, purple, yellow, white and black.

Then it was Paul's turn, the artist using the same colours with a similar sort of pattern to mine.  He was almost unrecognisable by the time she finished.  She had worked very quickly and managed to do both of us in less than the 4 hours or so allocated for the painting.  Because there was time left - we volunteered to paint our artist but she declined.  Perhaps one day she will join in.

A beautiful lady in her wheelchair - an inspiration
to anyone!

Walking around the site, it was interesting to see people getting transformed by the colours of paint and patterns formed.  We recognised someone who was transgender from the Amsterdam bodypainting day, today painted mainly in yellow/black circles.  One woman was in a wheelchair getting painted.  I take my hat off to her for attending.  What a beautiful person and she looked ever so lovely when the artist had finished painting.  Her husband/carer was also there and got his new 'suit' of paint.

Models helping out with the painting. 

There were photographers who recorded the day's event and a TV station came to do a bit of recording/an interview or two. The bodypainting session was right next to the former Berlin Wall site so there were a lot of tourists and locals passing by to see it.  They saw the bodypainting session in full swing and ended up gathering around the exterior perimeter of the area set aside for the painters to watch and/or take photographs.  There was a small street café right next to where we were being painted so the patrons had a good eye-full of entertainment! The atmosphere was 'electric'.

Close to 4pm the artists had to finish up and the great clean-up began; washing off any paint that had splashed onto surfaces and tidying up.  Once done, Andy quickly got us all across the road to the adjoining 'Checkpoint Charlie' (check-point re-enactment) for a photograph.

People followed us and crowded around, so much so that the official photographers had difficulty taking photographs.  They had to be asked to step back and we also took 4 steps back, giving the photographers space.  One tourist tried very hard to 'get in the act' and pose with us and had to be politely but firmly asked to move.

We were then led back across the road to a monument for photographs and then headed back to where the painting event had taken place.  Our mode of transport arrived - a double-decker open topped bus.

Almost unrecognisable!

Once we were all on the top deck of the bus, including the lovely woman in the wheelchair who was carried bodily upstairs), our grinning driver had us on the road and touring around Berlin to see some of the sights.  We also became the one of the 'sights' of Berlin for tourists and locals alike.  Even those in double-decker busses did a double take.  It was ever so funny seeing people's reactions - from disbelief to delight or laughing.  We stopped at an area with beautiful high arches (the Branderburg Tor, the heart of old and new Berlin) and we had a few quick photographs taken before anyone could call the police.  A newly wed couple were having
photographs taken in the area and, much to their amusement, a few of us joined them for their photographs!  The bride didn't look too pleased in the begining but I think the penny quickly dropped: this was a day she would NEVER forget, and there were other photographers recording it alongside the couple's official photographer! She soon cheered up, a bemused expression on her face.  The 'models' next to the bride and groom had to be ever so careful not to get body paint onto the dress or the suit.

Sunset from our hotel room window

Back on the bus, we continued on our scenic drive around Berlin and then we got dropped off at our 'party' venue which was alongside the river.  The venue was something that had been converted into a place of 'allsorts'.  There was music, a bar, places to sit down and eat.  A very vibrant, cosmopolitan/hippie type of place.  It was here that we were able to have something to eat/drink/relax.  One of the clothed guests there was already chilled out and relaxed - he was actually stoned or dead drunk!  Some models joined in with the dancing; Andy and one or two other artists started a painting session - painting anyone who wished to get painted.

After a couple of hours Paul and I wrapped ourselves in a sarong each and walked back to our hotel just down the road from the party venue.  We must have looked quite a sight!  Fortunately nobody at the hotel reception stopped us.  It was good to step into the shower and get our 'warpaint' off!  The shower was filthy by the time we finished (ooops!) but we washed it off, waving goodbye to the last of the paint as it went down the plug hole.


Did it rain during the day?  Mercifully not!  The weather turned out just perfect - not too hot, not too cold.  It had been a truly fantastic day.  Without Andy and his team, and his Mehron sponsors, the day would not have happened.   I'm glad it all came together.

You can see further pictures in my facebook album via this link:  Berlin bodypainting day