5th Birthday

On Saturday, I painted at a great birthday party in New City, NY.  The family had rented a Sabrett truck, gotten Optimus Prime to show up, had a bounce house, and me!  It was really fun and the kids were great... and I was happy they were willing to get painted even though they were swimming in the family's backyard pool.

I had a pretty varied bunch at the party, with lots of different requests and very few doubles, always a plus for me.

Of course there was the requisite butterfly, but only one!

Only one cat too!

This little devil was really happy with her face.

The flaming football and Jack Sparrow facial hair did inspire a couple of duplicates, but it was too fun, so who cares?  How cute is that kid in a beard & moustache?!

It's not face painting 'til there are hearts involved... even if those hearts wind up on arms.  That top "tattoo" contains the model's wife's initials, and I'm always happy when a kiddo lets me match her outfit.

Where there are hearts, unicorns are never far behind.

This smiling ladybug got a great reaction from the guests, and from the bug herself when she saw the mirror.

Sometimes it's all about the simple classics.

And sometimes things are a bit more involved!

These three were going to Dave & Busters after the party to watch the Rangers game.  I only wish they'd been going to the actual game so I could look for them on the monitors!

And a Transformers fan to the end, the birthay boy, last but definitely not least, was Optimus Prime.

The Fun of It

Back in June, an old friend asked me to paint up her son & three of his friends for his birthday one afternoon. Each picked a different Transformer, and then when I headed home, they were all headed to the theater to see the movie! The kids were really rambunctious, so it's not my best work, but it was great fun and they LOVED it. One kid asked if I was going to the movies with them, which I thought was really sweet. Here are shots of the boys with their inspiration.

I loved that the boys took on their characters almost instantly...

The best part was after the party, when the birthday boy's mom emailed me:

"Larissa, thanks again for the face painting and the pics you sent over. I was so tired yesterday after everyone left......I slept all day!!!!!! LOL!!!! The boys were hysterical.....of course they attracted a lot of attention at the movie theater and I'm glad you gave me some business cards because I handed them out. :-) While the movie was playing, every time one of the boys' "characters" appeared on the screen, they were screaming "Kevin!!! That's you!!!!' etc. SOOOOOOO funny! I will be emailing you this afternoon all the pictures I took, although the ones you sent over look great!!! :-) Thanks again!!!"

And that's the fun of it, really. Happy kids getting out of themselves and taking on characters, playacting as kids should.