DRAWING LIFE by fred hatt

Victory Back, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Back in July I posted some of the body painting with woad, or indigo, that I did that month at the Sirius Rising festival at Brushwood Folklore Center in Sherman, New York.  This post will feature selections of my work with regular cosmetic body paints from this year’s festival.

At Sirius Rising, and sometimes at other festivals, I teach workshops and will paint on anyone who will offer their body to my brush, charging no fees but accepting donations.

As I am not a naturally outgoing person, this works well as a way to get to know people.  They approach me because they appreciate my artwork.  When someone undresses and allows me to paint on their body, the barriers that might otherwise divide us are down.

I think of it as a mutual gift:  I get to enjoy the pleasure of painting and the pleasure of physical contact, while the person I paint gets to experience the visual manifestation of their own inner essence that I draw upon in the act of painting on their body.  Then, of course, they get the experience of being noticed and admired by others, and a few of those others may approach me to be painted themselves.

In doing this work, I try to see each person’s own particular beauty, to honor their spirit and enhance their presence.  The paintings above and below are the back and front of someone who just survived a bout with cancer.  I see the painting as representing the victory dance of her life force.

Victory Front, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Next, two paintings made on another woman’s back on two different days, a flower of potential and a bird of aspiration:

Flora, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Upward, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

People at pagan festivals love nature imagery.  A green moth:

Green Moth, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

A tree goddess:

Dryad, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

A traditional green man:

Green Man, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

A fiery breast:

Flames, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

The young man below, Mihael, wrote about his experience being painted on his Facebook page.  A friend of his took this picture with Mihael’s camera:

Fred Hatt painting Mihael, 2009

Mihael writes, “The brush tickled at times and sent goose bumps all over my body. . . It only took about 30-45 minutes for him to create this work. . . Fred said this was the perfect image for me.  He took all the energy I had within me to make this a great creation.”

Phoenix, 2009, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Mihael continues, “I had already started to burn before the image was complete. . . I spent all day without a shirt and now my cancer is in the shape of a phoenix. . . After the paint had been washed away, a negative of the work was still as impressive as the final painting.  I couldn’t believe how many people commented on it as well as my sunburn which I’m still suffering from.”

Phoenix Burn, 2009, afterimage of bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

That must have been a bit painful.  I would certainly recommend using sunscreen before being painted and walking around in the sun all day.  This was Mihael’s first visit to this kind of festival, and I think the burn served as a kind of initiation for him.  There is certainly something appropriate about the image of a bird that rises from fire imprinted in the form of a burn.

Bird Goddess, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Most of the body art shown in my online portfolios here and here is full-body work done in my studio.  But I have also frequently done body painting at festivals such as Sirius Rising, Starwood, Dance New England Summer Camp and the American Body Arts Festival, at pageants such as Earth Celebrations‘ Rites of Spring, and for dance performances, gallery openings and parties.   At such events, people often want images that express their personality or symbols that have spiritual meaning for them.  It’s just like a tattoo, but more spontaneous, less painful, and far less permanent.

The back is a good surface for painting, because it is relatively flat and expansive, but also because in touching someone’s back I feel directly connected to their essential energy without being distracted by their face.  So here’s a collection of images painted on people’s backs.

Botanical imagery expresses vitality and the power of growth:

Flower of Life, 2007, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Green Man, 2004, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Yggdrasil, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

This one is a Tree of Life, one of those archetypal images that appears in many forms in widespread cultures.  One of its meanings is making a connection between Heaven and Earth, as the tree penetrates and draws from the powers of both realms.  The trunk of the tree adorning the human trunk asserts that human life is poised between and nourished by the same poles.  The painting above was made to conceal a surgical scar with a healing symbol.

Another image of uniting the material and the spiritual worlds is the Winged Serpent.  The serpent slithering up the spine is also an expression of Kundalini, or the vertical flow of life energy in the body, while the wings express expansion and inspiration.  The wings on this one look a bit like a view of the lungs inside the thorax.

Winged Serpent, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Quetzalcoatl, 2001, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

The version directly above was made for a performance by the great dancer and choreographer Homer Avila, who had recently lost a leg to cancer.

The butterfly expresses the idea of transformation and rebirth.  I find it nearly impossible to capture the beauty of a real butterfly in paint.  I reach for the feeling of expansiveness:

Papillon, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Birds express freedom and transcendence, power and intensity.  Here are three strong birds:

Firebird, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Eagle, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Falcon, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

What I love most is when someone gives me free rein to paint whatever naturally emerges from the contact of my imagination and their body, through the divining-rod of the brush.  Here’s a proud striding bird:

Walking Bird, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Arcs, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt

Here is a pure abstraction, not a symbolic image at all, but I think it expresses something about the complexity and beauty of the person it adorns, something a symbol, with all its cultural baggage, never could.