Picnic!

Every summer, the community theater to which I belong, Bergen County Players, hosts a picnic for the members, friends, and family, and every year Eric and I go.  Since it's something I can offer to my fellow theater people, I bring the face paints and glitter tats.

I'm generally a hit.  This year didn't get off to an auspicious start, though, when I asked a little girl I didn't know if she wanted to be painted.  She said yes, her mother said yes.  She wanted a butterfly, and pink was her color of choice... but as soon as the sponge reached her face, she got really upset.  Glitter, which she'd already asked for before I started, just added to her misery.  Looking in the mirror was even worse, and she didn't stop crying until we washed her face off.  I'm glad Snazaroo, which I was using, will come off with just a paper towel and a little water.  I felt so bad!  Face painting's supposed to be fun, after all.

When her mom tried getting painted to show her it was ok, she got upset all over again... and then again when her brother got a glitter tattoo on each arm.  She's very protective of her family, it seems.

After that, though, hilarity ensued.

First, what I did.

What you're seeing there are my first ever beagle and squirrel!  I love getting challenges!  The fish was just something out of my head, an "artist's choice," but Eric told me I'd done a pineapple fish.  Behold...

Weird, right?  I'd never heard of or seen this fish before!  Hmm...

While I was working, though, my young friend Messalina (isn't that a great name?) asked to use my paints and join me.  I never let anyone do that, but it is tradition that Messalina paints me, so I let her paint our friend Kenny, who was oddly agreeable yesterday.  I do note that he's never let me paint him and plan to remedy that, especially since he has such a terrific canvas.

I think I should hire her!

108?!

Wow, not cool.  And I mean that both figuratively and literally, since weather.com says it hit 108 here in NJ yesterday.  A record high, from the prior 105.

I'm not fond of 3-digit temperatures.  If I was, I'd go live in Arizona.

Even in the dark of night, at 1 a.m., it was near 90 degrees.  So you get the idea.  And where was I from 5:30 - 830 p.m.?  With 4 fellow crazy face painters, at the Bergen County Zoo in Van Saun Park in Paramus.  Face painting.  Outdoors.  In that heat.

Crazier than we were may have been the people who got painted.  More power to 'em!  Because of them, I got to do some fun stuff.  Like these butterflies.

Mike Tyson's tribal... which is probably a tad easier with a shaved head.

And yeah, I looked it up.  All hail the smartphone!  Speaking of the smartphone and finding images, I got my first toucan request and decided to give it a go once I found one online.

Good job, if I do say so myself!

I was surprised at the people who wanted full face designs in the heat, but if they were willing, I was willing.  Hence the crocodile and ladybug.

It was kind of fun to make the ladybug smile when she smiled, and it was a surprising popular design.  Another face painting "trick" is to make parts disappear.  This boy was really happy at the snake apparently slithering through his hair.

Unsurprisingly, we did get a lot of arm art.

The best design of the day, though?  Or at least the funniest... check out these guys.

Love it!

A Happy 4th!

I painted on Monday at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, at their annual party.  It was a great bunch of kids, and we had fun.  This year, Angry Birds were the most popular face by far, a fad begun by this young lady, with my first ever Angry Bird face painting.


 Of course, butterflies.

A dragon.

A patriotic kiddo.

An evil clown.

And a bunch more firsts... a rocket and a smilie.

An owl that I wish was a better photo.

And a cute porcupine!

Almost July 4, and the Parties Have Started!

Yesterday, some friends and I did glitter tattoos at a country club's July 4 weekend party.  We've been there several times before for this event, and it's always a good one.  We were moving pretty quickly, but I took some time for a few photos.

Even at my own party!

Every year, Eric and I throw a Mardi Gras in June party.  We order live crawfish from New Orleans, plus shelled crawfish for etouffee (my favorite food in the world).  I make pecan pie and we have a ton of people over for the afternoon and into the night.  This year I made a cake too.  For a full recount, look here.

This year, I was getting face painting requests, but it's not so easy to stop and do that when you're hosting.  My friend Emilie was nice enough to pull out her kit instead.

When my friend's son requested a tiger, though, Emilie insisted I'm better at it, and passed it to me.  So I did paint one face.

He was totally enamoured with it, and really became the tiger!

And Emilie was wonderful to do the rest!  She'd already worked 6 hours that day at an event!

And... what the end of a party looks like.