I was absolutely thrilled to attend the 16th annual World Body Painting Festival this July 3-7th in Portschach, Austria. The festival takes place around a huge clean alpine lake with charming hotels and lot’s of greenery.

During the WBF Academy portion of the week I took a fabulous intensive course with Bella Volen called ‘The Art of Body Painting’. She did an extensive slideshow of the history of body paint around the world and the agents of it’s resurgence in the 1950’s-80’s, as well as the current state of the field. After a live demonstration of her paint techniques, we were invited to choose a challenging image from a large selection and try to mimic it on skin.

There was a fun party called the Body Circus on July 3rd at a nearby castle estate. There was fabulous shopping to be done as all the major European body art brands represented their products and some American companies as well. I added some great new products to my already huge toolkit.

Human Décor Artists from 40 countries come to compete for the World Championship title in 3 Categories– Brush & Sponge, Airbrush, and Special Effects.

We were able to watch the artists as they worked on their masterpieces in cute little tents all along the lake- and then see the results showcased on the main stage at night.

I was able to get a lot of wonderful images. I have posted a gallery of over 150 images on the Become the Art Facebook Page.
To see these pics- go to: