More Communions, More Creativity

Maybe it's something in the age of the kids that are having communions, though that doesn't explain the older and younger cousins and siblings.  These kids come up with the niftiest ideas!

When was the last time you saw an elephant playing soccer?

Or a panda playing baseball?

It kills me that the panda's so blurry, but I swear it was adorable.  At another recent communion, I got to do this.

And my first ever full-face shark!

A Sleepover Party

On Sunday, I had a more unusual event for me.  I entertained at the "morning after" of a 7-year-old's sleepover birthday party of just four girls.  It was a blast!  I arrived at 11 a.m. to squeals of "She's here!  She's here!" which is one of the things that make my jobs so great.

For these girls, I brought my henna and temporary tattoos, and their creative brains gave me a run for my money.

Even as the girls went through my glitter tattoo stencils, they asked for the designs to be bigger, so I had to freehand them.  I think I did a good job!

Valerie Fund Walk 2014

For many  years now, a team of my friends and I have painted faces at the Valerie Fund Walk/Race in Verona, NJ.  It's always a great event, highly attended by good-natured people looking to do a good thing.  What's not to love?

It's huge, with lots of attendees, and lots getting painted.  So I only took the time to take a few photos.

Finally!  A monkey I'm happy with!  Monkeys have been kind of the bane of my face painting existence, but I think I've finally hit it.  This particular monkey wanted a banana.  Her mom would have preferred that she get flowers instead of the monkey, so we compromised with a monkey with flowers in her hair.  Everyone was happy!

This kitty had asked for "just a little face paint, like a nose and whiskers," which you know I just can't do.  So this was my compromise for a minimalist kitty, and she was ecstatic.

This decisive young lady started off by asking for a dog, and then when I suggested hound or dalmation, asked for a poodle, specifically a pink poodle.  I love it!

Tigers Were Hot

I face painted at a dual birthday party on Saturday - a 7-year-old boy and his 5-year-old sister had a joint party for their respective birthdays, and their parents pulled out all the stops.  There were ponies to ride, a huge bounce house to play in, a video game truck, and me, plus silly string and other fun stuff.

As usual, there were a couple of really popular faces.  One was zombies, of which I took no photos.  The other?  Tigers.  So I had some fun with them...

I've also updated my standard butterfly, which is still in a metamorphosis stage (Ha!  Get it?  Butterfly... metamorphosis?)

And for probably the second or third time in my life... a peacock request.  I do love a challenge.

 And then, a one-off, a princess.  This young lady was very happy to see me, as I'd painted at her Wizard of Oz party in March!  She's such a sweetheart.

What a great party on a great day!

Communion Season and Creativity

It's in the midst of communion season again, and the kids are as inventive as ever.

My first ever bull, spiderbat, and full face superman!  Kids are awesome.

Kids Are Funny

Just look at 'em!

Cute, right?  I love the birthday cake train, and cupcakes, especially.  And this is precisely why you'll never see me bring a book or board to a gig.  If I limited the kiddos, I'd never have tried these!

Zoo Do 2014

Last night, some friends and I painted again at the Bergen County Zoo at Van Saun Park in Paramus.  It was a blast!  Two of the other face painters are clowns and I love hanging out with clowns.  Such big personalities, it's a blast.

It's funny, although there are four of us painting, and the way we work it is that there's only one line and each artist with an empty seat just calls for the next person in line, each of us tends to end up with our own popular faces for the event.  I heard the artist nearest me painting kitty after kitty, while I didn't have one single kitty request.  My big thing last night was dragons.  I painted a slew of dragons and had some fun with them.  I love asking kids - or adults, for that matter - "What color are dragons where you come from?"  The most common breeds of dragons seem to be green, red, and blue.

I did get one very specific request for this dragon, but with teeth, which I guess from looking at the internet now (I haven't seen the movie yet and really should), he develops as he gets older; mom called up the image on her phone.  Not sure I captured it, but it was on the fly, so I don't think I did a terrible job.

Of course, even with all the dragons, I couldn't have a gig without butterflies.  There are always butterflies.  But I decided to have some fun with them.

There are also almost always tigers, so I decided to have some fun with those too.

 Not everyone chose pretty.  There were a couple of fierce T-Rexes too.

The coolest request, though, was my last of the night - an owl.  I think I've only painted a full face owl once before, and I know for a fact this one was better.  She loved it!