Last Saturday, something incredible happened: blue humanoids with additional faces in unexpected places took over the streets of Midtown Manhattan! No, it’s not a plot of a sci-fi thriller. In fact, the humanoids were greeted by New York denizens and visitors with joy and excitement!
It was New York Body Painting Day, a project by the artist Andy Golub in collaboration with Young Naturists America. I participated in a similar body art event at Times square a year ago, but New York Body Painting Day must have been the biggest so far, with 3o artists and 40 models!
Besides bringing art to the people in the most interactive way imaginable, New York Body Painting Day had a clear message on body acceptance.
We started at Columbus Circle by the corner of Central Park. After the artists spilled their creativity over the models with flying colors,
some of the models helped to finish painting their fellows. By the way, this photo below with my legs being painted by the model-turned-artist made it to an article on BBC website, which was among the top-read news on that day!
Given that my upper body appeared in a cover photo for the last year’s event coverage on NBC, I can only guess what other parts of my body will feature in the top news outlets, if I keep on participating in these events! 😀
The models who were finished earlier strolled to Central Park for a photo shoot.
Here are just a few of my favorite photos. Rocks and trees provided a naturalistic background
and an opportunity for some bolder poses.
Some models did not just pose but performed a little show with hula-hoops.
When all models were ready, we gathered by the fountain at Columbus Circle
and strolled down Broadway.
Being in a very cheerful mood, we of course took every opportunity to stop and play with whatever we encountered on our way.
I was offered to ride a pedicab… Not often do you get a chance to ride a bike naked in New York without risk of getting arrested. Unfortunately, that photo is no longer available from the original source, and I have never downloaded it 
The red stairs at Time Square gave us a great opportunity for some group photos.
All eyes on us!
That wasn’t our final stop, however. We then had an entire double-decker bus for ourselves and rode through Midtown to East Village.
I’ve never taken such city sightseeing bus tours, but I assure you this was something else! We had so much fun greeting the crowd and getting their amused and amazed reaction back! We actually got a couple of passers by naked in solidarity with us 🙂 [Unfortunately, that photo is no longer available from the original source, and I have never downloaded it]
But there are some great photos of people’s reaction, which ranged from WTF kind of amusement
to pure cheerful smiles
and I wish I was there look on the face 🙂
And then, that awkward moment when Naked Cowboy realizes he is not actually naked…
We had a break at Andy’s studio with some snacks and art viewing
and then headed back for an after-party.
It was a day to remember for all the participants and spectators alike!
Active Naturists 
Thanks, once again, for beautiful photos, a real pleasure to the eye. Blue is indeed beautiful.
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Could someone instruct me – how do you translate a blog that might be in another language into English ? Thank you Barefoot for sharing your blog and what appears to be the European equivalent of our active naturism . Thanks again .
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Awesome! Looks like it was a lot of fun.
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Excellent well done and thank you for the coverage. Lovely photos as usual.
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That’s a really cool event. Would be fun to take part.
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I know . It’s really cool how you focus on the pictures on the bodies and not the bodies themselves . Why all blue , black and green though ? What is the artist saying by the choice of these colors ?
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Reblogged this on Naturalian's Blog and commented:
I would love to be painted! Wonderful for body acceptance in all its forms!
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