[caption id="attachment_9711" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Photo by JessicaShops' Jessica Dauler."]

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At 11:40am on Monday I arrived at the Bodies As a Work of Art venue, Tongue and Groove. My model, Logan Robinson and assistant, Tiffany Brown Rideaux would soon arrive as well. The three of us had about 7+ hours of body painting ahead of us.

My canvas.

[Pardon the blurriness] I applied the blue to Logan's hands and feet first while Tiffany prepared the orange paint. BTW, that's artist Leslie Hines and Chelko's own Adam Malm behind Logan.

The airbrush machine gave us plenty of problems which cut into my work time but at the end everything worked out well. All the circular and square shapes, stars and lettering were painted in phases with the use of stencils that I custom cut for the project. At the center of every star was a brilliant rhinestone for a bit of sparkle.

[caption id="attachment_9720" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Photo by Jeff Glasheen."]

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The words I chose came directly from the Chelko Foundation's Mission Statement: Empowerment; Human; Destiny; and the phrase, "Until women are free no one is free."

[caption id="attachment_9721" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="Photo by Becca McWaters."]

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I think I know what Mara's looking at!

Sometime around 7pm, Chelko President Randi Layne had a few words of inspiration for all the models, artists and assistants backstage. Randi couldn't get past the first sentence without getting emotional. And who could blame her. As much fun as this body painting adventure was, I don't think any of the artists ever lost sight of the true meaning and significance behind the event. It was moving for all.

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