Halloween 2010

Ah, Halloween, my favorite holiday.

We were so busy this year with so many things that we actually skipped our annual Holiday party and instead made other plans.

I did, however, face paint at my usual Halloween gig, the Bergen County Cabbage Night Festival.  I love this event, and it's great for the kids.

My first model of the day was this adorable girl who wanted something scary and settled on an alien.

She was hanging around as I set up my table, and was the only one around, but once I painted her I was swamped for even longer than my scheduled three hours.

Some more girls who were into the scary faces (my personal favorites) were this zombie, vampire, and witch.

Some weren't into face painting, but were sure into the theme.  A new design for me that was hugely popular this year was my haunted house scene.  I did some on hands, some on faces.

And my first vampire hand painting.  I'm used to turning people into vampires, more than drawing them.  Still, a fair representation, I think.

And of course I had my usual butterflies, tigers, puppies, and this cute cheetah.

Plus, my first ever rocket request, which I then duplicated on this young man's brother.

This next design was a heck of a compromise.  The model wanted a flower, just a simple flower.  Her mom was pushing for a mardi gras mask.  So I suggested a flowered mardi gras mask!

Then there were these three teens who were so cool.  The first one saw the length of my line and chose to keep things moving for me, even though she'd waited for nearly two hours herself.  She requested just a cat nose and whiskers.  The second dubbed herself a comic book geek and requested a superhero mask, which was voted by the three as the "best superhero mask she'd ever gotten" and "sick" (a good thing in teenspeak).  The third wanted nerd glasses, tape and all.

I was so crazy busy painting, that I actually handed them my phone to take photos of each other for me!  I love how they all got into character with their paintings.

While that afternoon I was a Renaissance wench,

later that night, my husband Eric and I went to Forest of Fear, a haunt organized by the same group that does the NY Renaissance Festival across the street from the Faire grounds.  For that, I went as a zombie Alice in Wonderland, and Eric wore this terrific mask we bought him in New Orleans, with a black velvet cloak.

Today, I went trick or treating wtih my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew.  My nephew, for his first Halloween, was Curious George, my brothe-in-law was the Man in the Yellow Hat, and my sister was the bunch of balloons in the sky.  I was a clown.

We do have one more Halloween event - we're going to Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor next Saturday.  I'll let you know how it was!

Wicked Faire 2010

Wow, what a weekend! Jeff Mach's Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire was even bigger and better this year than previously. Eric and I were kept so busy that we didn't even have time to see it all.

I was doing face and body painting, as ususal, but this time we also had our soaps for sale with us. Unfortunately, that meant that Eric didn't get to travel with me when I took my face painting cart to my various body painting assignments.

I did, of course, paint the wonderful Aiden, who oversees every aspect of vendor organization for the event, from registration to placement, to complaints.

Each year, the event has a different theme. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland, and it was a wonderful springboard for costuming. I, of course, was happy that it led to people wanting me to assist with their outfits like this adorable Cheshire cat...

Of course, there was the typical Renaissance Faire fare of swirls and curls.

In amongst those, I was honored to paint the very talented Sarah, of musical group This Way to the Egress for the band's Saturday night show.

Of course, the male faire attendees and employees didn't let me forget them either! This handsome gentleman, Mike, from Virginia let me take advantage of his available "canvas" and really have some fun.

I think I'm ready to start painting Harleys! Ha!

And Oliver, who was working at the faire and who, together with his girlfriend Timna, makes the most amazing Steampunk accessories, had me paint him to match his very cool outfit.

Last, but definitely not least, on Sunday I painted one of my most loyal models, Patrick. What's a Renaissance faire without zombies?

Especially happy zombies.

Even better than all of this, on Saturday evening, I was given a stage an an audience, to complete a body painting demonstration on the lovely Toni. With her cat ears and tail, I had to give her a cat face to match.

But the body painting was the real star of the show. We had three people taking photographs as I painted my Alice themed design...

Because we had professional photographers taking pictures, I'm not going to post the full finished product today. I don't want to ruin the look by showing you less-than-perfect photos of the painting, which was completed, back and front, in just over an hour! As soon as I have the pro photos, I'll be sharing them.

I also had the pleasant surprise, though, of a surprise body painting assignment earlier on Saturday afternoon. There was a fashion show scheduled, and the organizer's order of body paint hadn't arrived in time. The fiance of a woman I painted last year let them know that a body painter was actually available at the faire, and I was hired to complete the "outfit."

My model was to have cat ears, a tail, and a gorgeous mask, and I was asked to paint her following the style of the mask in pink and black. It was craziness. I brought my cart to the hotel room where all of the models were getting dressed. The others were wearing beautiful Victorian and faire clothing and just the one was to be a body painted cat. People were getting dressed and corseted all around us, hair and makeup being completed, while my model and I twisted and turned around each other to get her done as quickly and beautifully as possible. The energy was incredible.

The fashion show was photographed and videorecorded professionally, and I will have both photos and video links. I'm waiting for those photos and links before I post the results here, so be sure to check back! I wasn't able to see the show, but I'm told my model was absolutely amazing on the runway.

All in all, we had an amazing time, and are completely exhausted!

Halloween Appointments

This morning, a great couple came over to get painted before going to work. The husband wanted to be a full-headed scary Jack O' Lantern, and the wife just wanted purple streaks in her hair.

They came with their own orange, green, and purple hair spray, all prepared to go.

So I got to work on the husband, and this is what we achieved:

He and his wife absolutely LOVED it! After I finished this, I did the purple streaks in his wife's very dark hair. Subtle, but cool. Well, he was so excited, and she was so impressed, that he convinced her to get painted too. She just wanted a cool eye mask, something with tribal.

Then, this afternoon, I had another husband/wife team come by for paintings for a party tonight. They contacted me after seeing me paint their granddaughter at the Cabbage Night Festival on Saturday. The wife has a gold and black webby and gauzy dress, and a gold crown with various colored stones. She wanted to be a Butterfly Queen. This is she...

Her husband, on the other hand, went the opposite route. A man after my own heart, he got himself a black hooded robe and was looking for a skull face.

His wife sat behind him on a chair as I painted, and then he turned around. She literally jumped, she was so startled by what I'd done. They decided they couldn't go visit his mother today, because it might do her in!

Meanwhile, my pumpkin head emailed me, to tell me that the people at work were very surprised, and that security wouldn't let him in. He told them, " You know me man!! I've been coming here for years!!" A few of his co-workers got scared, and on the NYC bus it was hilarious. A few people spotted him on the bus and didn't want to get on! The bus driver was laughing so hard. He's been getting lots of stares and most people say, "Great job, who did it?" According to my client, "It's been so much fun man I haven't had this much fun in Halloween since 1998."