Updated: Mar 20, 2019
Hey everyone, Ruky here ! I’ve decided for today’s blog I’d tell the story of the first Paint n’ Shoot.
I’ve always been good at art but never had the patience to perfect one medium over another. I’ve graffitied with spray paint, water colored mountains, and even tattooed my own body, but I always had a preference. My favorite was sketching; doodling on the sides of notebooks filled with biology diagrams and history dates.
It was that sense of freedom that inspired the craving to work not only photography but also with paint.
It was the end of the week, an unexpected day off from my full time job, which was followed by a surprise visit from a good friend. She came bearing gifts, a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates for some quality girl time. We both were emotional from the long week, pouring each other a cup of red wine we expressed our thoughts and emotions through tears and laughs.
On this particular day, we pulled out a box of paints. We had talked about incorporating body art into the Antojo style and it was then that we decided there was no better day than the present. So with that idea, we tossed a giant black sheet on the floor with some pillows and picked a classic painting that depicted my emotions. I sketched “The Scream” by Vincent Van Gosh with a body crayon on her back and within minutes I was splashing an assortment of colors filling in the gaps and turning my friends back into my personal canvas.
Nearly 3 hours later, with wine and chocolate breaks, we were done. I felt relieved, excited and free and a feeling overwelmed me. The feeling was pride and happiness, like I should have lit a fancy cigar and show cased our creation. Not because it was some original masterpiece, but because it was our collaboration. I expressed not only my emotions, but hers as well. It was empowering and the gratitude I felt when she first turned to see the classic recreation was priceless. I had apologized many times for fear of scratching her with the rough bristles of the brush but in return she exclaimed that they felt good, even therapeautic. I felt the same, and although we were in two different positions, painter and canvas, we both walked out of the room on a pink cloud. The thrill of trying something new and turning a body into moving art was sensational. I fell in love and couldn’t wait to explore more in this new chapter of Antojo.
