Her former canvases include Dave Grohl, Pink and some of the
Playboy bunnies. Body-painter Melissa Pizzamiglio can now add
Oceana Gold Nugget Damon Cleverley to the list.
The US body-painter, teaching make-up artistry at Aoraki
Polytechnic, painted a shirt, waistcoat and bow tie on the
190cm tall basketballer during a fundraiser for the Otago
Community Hospice yesterday.
Miss Pizzamiglio has been body-painting for about seven years
and got her start after taking care of Foo Fighters lead
singer Dave Grohl's male grooming for tour photographs.
She said Cleverley "did really well for a first-timer". She
would normally have her subjects stand for the process, which
could take hours.
Cleverley said the experience was "nerve-racking" at first,
because he was not used to being topless in public, and that
the paint was "pretty cold", but he enjoyed it in the end.
Team-mates Mark Dickel and Akeem Wright also stripped off and
let basketball fans transform them into a gecko-covered
wildlife scene and a tiger, respectively.
Wright volunteered to be painted because he "thought it would
be cool", but said it tickled and felt cold at the same time,
while Dickel just thought it was "a weird feeling".
Meghan Hellyer bid on the right to paint Wright because she
was "obsessed with basketball".
"I also thought, instead of watching them play, I could paint
them instead," she said.
"It's a bit of a laugh and a good cause."
Otago Highlanders members will be body-painted at the Angus
Cafe on Friday as part of Hospice Awareness Week.
ellie.constantine @odt.co.nz
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