Local body painter creates one-of-a-kind works of art
Surina Botha’s body paintings are unique and fleeting works of art.
Strubenvale resident Surina Botha (49) is a master of art and a professional body painter. She started painting at the age of 18.
Although she had always been artistic when growing up, her mother somehow pointed her in the painting direction.
“My mother had attended a festival, and when she came home, she told me that she saw a clown doing face painting. She suggested I should give it a try,” said Surina.
“I then started looking for places that offer face painting lessons. I couldn’t find anyone locally, and then I contacted the specific clown that my mother saw, and she wasn’t as helpful.
“Luckily, I found help from international artists who were able to give me more directions on what type of paint to use and where to go.”
She began face painting as a side business in 2005, and her first gig was painting children’s faces at her church bazaar. That’s where she got booked for her first birthday gig.
“From there on, it just grew, and I started being booked a lot for children’s parties. In 2006, I resigned from my job and focused full time on body painting.”
Surina says body painting is an incredibly versatile art form that ranges from using decorative body paints to create designs on bodies to more modern body art forms like tattoos.
She enjoys creating designs on the human body; however, she adds that it is challenging to achieve symmetries and continuity of the design on a body full of curves.
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“Therefore, I always prepare a project on paper, tailoring it to the model’s body and setting up the aesthetic shape and the combination of colours.
“When everything is ready, it’s the moment where I sketch the executive drawings to be reproduced on the body.”
Surina loves that she’s not working on a flat surface but rather on a body that has skin texture and different dimensions. She added that it takes seven hours for a total body painting activity.
“It’s always a challenge if you want to paint something, even to camouflage a model to disappear into the backdrop and to make the lines disappear.
“I have to try to make my object look realistic or more relatable for someone to notice what I’m trying to portray on my canvas,” Surina added.
Her recent achievement was attaining first place at the three-day Life Canvas Bodypainting Competition at the Arnold Classic Africa Sport & Lifestyle Festival.
Surina brought home three gold medals for body painting and one bronze medal for special effects, which was her first time competing. The married mother of two girls acknowledged her family’s unwavering support for her achievements and sacrifices.
“My family has given me so much love and encouragement that it is enough to motivate me to keep pursuing my artistic interests. I am sincerely appreciative of them,” Surina remarked.
Surina aspires to keep motivating other artists to achieve their artistic ambitions.
