The Dangers Of The Damaged ✔︎

46 ↝ Human Canvas

"I lose my mind when it comes to you,
I take time with the ones I choose,
And I don't want to smile,
if it ain't from you."
Boyfriend — Ariana Grande & Social House

"The assignment will be due in three weeks time. Take your time to read the brief carefully." My Psychology professor says, leaning against his table. "I expect the best work from you guys."

He glances at his watch. "Alright, time's up. You're dismissed. Have a great day everyone, keep an eye out for an email with all the details and the brief."

With that, everyone gets to their feet, shuffling out of the lecture hall. I follow the crowd outside into the evening air, grateful for the fresh breeze that wraps around me as I walk down the outdoor hallway.

I make my way to the dorm building, and let myself into the empty dorm room. It's Thursday night, and Nessa's out with Miles on a date. She'd texted me a few hours ago saying she'd be staying over at the soccer house, and asked me if I'd want to join too.

As much as I didn't want to, I declined, fully aware of the unfinished art project sitting on my desk.

This project is my biggest yet, and the most complicated. It's a body art piece, and our professor instructed us to use our own bodies as reference. I spent days planning for it, and my prof loved my pitch.

I'm planning to paint my entire abdomen, and lay on a life sized canvas, so the silhouette of my body would imprinted on it. After that, I'd add in more affects and details myself.

All the materials I need, I've already bought a few days ago. Life sized canvas, as tall as I am, and wide enough to fit me, along with tins of non toxic, washable paint.

It's something definitely out of my comfort zone, but that's what I'm doing these days right? Stepping out of my comfort zone. And it's been working well for me so far.

I chose this idea to emphasise the fact that the female body really is art. It goes through so much, and still manages to be absolutely beautiful, and incredibly strong, no matter what shape or size or colour. My body has been through hell and back, and I feel like this is a way to empower it. Appreciate it.

Ducking into the bathroom, I remove my clothes, leaving me in my pale red bra and underwear. I throw on a baggy t-shirt, and walk back into the dorm to get my set up ready.

After spreading out a layer of plastic that I bought from the store all over the floor in between Nessa and I's bed, so that the paint wouldn't ruin the carpet, I place the canvas in the middle of the plastic.

I put on some music from my bluetooth speaker and grab my sketchbook, where I'd drawn up a rough sketch of how I want the art to look like. Shades of blue, and white, with splattered paint on the background. More of an ocean, sky theme.

It's just going to be a print of my body from right under my boobs to my upper thighs, so nothing too sexy. Nessa took me on a full body wax the day we went shopping for lingerie, so I'm as bare as a baby.

Peeling off my bra and underwear, I sit on the plastic, dipping one of my biggest brushes into the deep blue paint, starting to paint my thighs first. I'm almost reaching my belly button when someone knocks on my door.