Not a Typical Start to the Week

This past Monday, I took a day off from my day job... to face paint!  It was one of the best days ever.  Three other face painters and I went to a beautiful Tudor-style house in Shrewsbury, NJ, owned by an employee of ColArt, the art supply company.  ColArt owns United States distribution of Snazaroo, a well-known face paint made in the UK.

They're looking to increase their marketing of Snazaroo, especially in social media, so they hired us to spend the whole day in the gorgeous backyard on a beautiful day, painting a bunch of very photogenic and well-mannered kids over and over in different faces for their pro photographer and videographer.  It was a blast!  At the end of the day, in addition to all the photos taken of my work, I also got to face paint a video tutorial... and get painted in one too!

ColArt has asked that we not share our work until they've got the official photos out and about, so although I took photos I cannot yet post them here.  I will in the future, though, so you'll have to keep checking!

Meanwhile, the next morning I got an email for a last minute party that same evening.  A young lady was turning four, and her mom suddenly thought it'd be fun to have a face painter.  She was right!

Lots of princesses and butterflies.

A couple of boys who loved their hulk and puppy.

And my favorite... a woman who just wanted me to do something pretty and let me do what I wanted!

She was so happy!

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

I got calls for two parties for today, but they were able to work around each other so I could paint at both!  I love it when that happens.

The first was a baptism luncheon in Wayne, NJ, with some really terrific kids.  The first one I painted was this beautiful girl who let me match her butterfly to her top, but my favorite thing about this photo is the face of the girl waiting behind her.  The whole thing is just too funny!

That comical girl, with a favorite color of blue and a flowered blue and yellow dress, chose flowers.

This one very specifically wanted a rose.

 And of course, there were a couple more butterflies.

This next young lady was the surprise of the day.  Upon sitting across from me, she immediately pointed to my range of pink face paints and said she wanted sparkles.  No problem.  So I asked her what she wanted to be painted as, expecting flowers, princess, or a butterfly.  What I got, though, was, "MONSTER!"  Well, OK, then.  One sparkly pink monster comin' up!

Of course, there had to be a couple tigers.  My purple tiger's mom was surprised at her choice, but loved it.

After seeing the tigers, this gentleman chose a lion.  A very serious lion.  I think the tie makes it even better.

And to finish the "Oh My Trilogy," as one dad put it, a couple bears were in the mix... lions and tigers and bears!  Oh my!

The girl loved her fish, but at two, my boy bear was a little too squirmy for the detail.  Another squirmy customer was this young Spiderman, also two, who had never been painted before.  He was decisive about his choice, though, and though it's not the best Spidey I've ever painted, his reaction is totally worth it.  As soon as I showed him the mirror, he started laughing in delight and just didn't stop.

Then I was off to my second party, a first birthday in West Milford, NJ.

This was a somewhat older crowd, but the girl who wanted to be first just couldn't pinpoint what she wanted to be.  I went through a list of animals, flowers, and other subjects, but when I got to "eye mask," she lit up and told me her favorite color was blue.  That made me happy, since it's mine too!

I think it went great with her awesome red hair.  An onlooker liked it so much, she wanted the same thing, but her favorite color was red.

I only had one cat today, so I had to make it as sparkly as possible.  Obviously.

After the party's requisite butterfly (what's a face painting party without butterflies?) ...

... I had two less typical requests.  First, a turtle, who after I painted her walked around exclaiming, "I'm adorable!"  She was, too.

And second, my first ever attempt at a phoenix.  I see room for improvement, but it wasn't bad for the first time.  I'll work on it.

Blast from the Past

 Back in August of 2013, I painted and did temporary tattoos for this fun bunch at a birthday.

Foodie Face Painting

Last spring, I face painted at the spring celebration of Smoothie King in Glen Rock.  It was great fun, and funny thing, people at a smoothie place are into their food body art!  I should have expected it, I suppose.

Graduation Party

On Sunday, I had the good fortune to face paint and do temporary tattoos for an amazing and HUGE family in Orange, NJ.  They had two high school grads they were honoring, and everyone came out to celebrate.  The women who hired me actually met me at the Valerie Fund Walk, which they do every year as walkers/fundraisers, so you know they've got good hearts.

And creative kids.

How cute is this little teddy bear?!  I gave her a button nose and a stitched face in her favorite color, pink, of course.

I had a couple zombies... kids after my own heart!  I didn't get a photo of her, but one was a little three-year-old girl who LOVED how scary she looked!

This young man and his buddies were absolutely hysterical after I tattooed some kisses on their necks.  He couldn't stop laughing!

Her favorite was "all the colors," so how could I not do a rainbow butterfly?

And this is the happiest I've been with one of my lions in a long time.  It's a work in progress, but I like this one.  Maybe it's the canvas that makes it.