I've Been Holding Out on You

Back in May, I painted at two events in one day. 

The first was the first communion party of a girl whose brother had me at his communion two years ago!  Their mom kept my info handy so I could come on back.  I love that, and remembered the name instantly when she got in touch with me.

This awesome family and their friends are defintely independent thinkers; I don't think I painted two kids with the same design at all!

The guest of honor even went last and made up her own idea, this rainbow turtle.

I kind of love the idea and want to add it to my regular repertoire.  And yes, I always do my turtles upside down so they share a smile with the painted child.

I did have two of my staples, a tiger and a butterfly, but only those two.

And I finally got to use that fox face I designed for the show I was in!

I actually had time to give one boy two faces, since he changed his mind.  Initially, he was a gorilla.

But I think some of the younger kiddos were scared, so he washed it off and came back for an alien.

One young lady asked to be her own black lab.

And another just wanted a spider on each cheek.

The only other cheek art I did was on this Yankee fan.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party was populatedby kissing dolphins,

a pirate,

Evil Elmo (???),

a panda,

and a stitched up monster.

The most unusual request I got at that party, though, was for "paint splatters."  It took me a sec, but here's my rendition.

Like I said, I love creative kids!

Speaking of creative, I haven't even gotten to the second party of that day yet.  This one was a birthay being held later that afternoon.  The birthday girl requested, and I kid you not, an "angel puppy."

Well then.

So... I give you... my angel puppy.

Note the winged ears.  Hey, she loved it!

 Showing solidarity, one of her guests chose to be a straight up puppy,

and another a straight up angel, but with swirls on her forehead.

The two boys at the party became superheroes.

And even the adults got in on the action, which you know I love!

Another Great One

The Tribeca Film Festival this year was a rousing success, no surprise.  I painted for 8 hours straight, with the assistance of a few line managers, including Eric.  Someday I need to buy a counter so I can see how many faces I've painted.

Meanwhile, here are a few of the photos he took for me.

Give and Get

Yesterday was the Rutherford Street Fair, a very large fair at which my mother has been telling  me I should be painting for years now, but I've always had other gigs that day.  Besides, they've already got a couple of regular face painters, though from what I understand one will no longer be there after this season.  She's just not in the mood to do fairs anymore, and that's reasonable.

It's a tough kind of day, painting at a fair.  For birthday parties, I normally arrive 10-30 minutes before my start time to set up.  That's all I really need.  Well, with street fairs, they need all the cars off the street by a certain time, and I'm not just bringing my table, chairs, and kit.  I'm bringing my 10x10' canopy, my glitter tattoo and face painting kits with a table for each, and all of my signage.  It's a lot.  Heck, my canopy, which claims to be "easy" (it's a lie) requires help to set up!

Then I'm painting for 7 hours straight, usually with no breaks, and then have to take everything down and pack it up again.  There's a risk, too.  What if the fair is small and no one shows up?  What if too many people just aren't in the mood for body art?  What if it's pouring rain or deathly hot?

So I can see why this other face painter may be tired of it.  It's a lot of work, but I'm still at a point where I really do love it.  Plus, when it's a big fair I bring Eric with me to help.  He can help me set up and tear down, and talk to the parents and kids who're waiting while I'm painting, so everyone stays entertained.

Yesterday was different, though.  Yesterday I was actually asked to come and paint on behalf of Giants of Generosity.

It's a really nifty group (definitely check out their website) that really just finds random people in need and gives them a hand.  As they state it, "Our mission is to respond to the most pressing needs of people who are experiencing desperate times, right here in our own communities."

Who can argue with that?

When a man landed in the hospital with severe injuries after trying to assist a woman who was being attacked, they paid his medical bills.  That's the sort of thing they do.

So they paid for my booth at the fair, and in return I donated back 40% of my proceeds from painting yesterday.  It was a slightly slower day for me, unfortunately, so that amounted to $150, but I was glad to be able to give that to them in addition to the donations they were taking at their own separate booth.

I did a lot of painting and a few tattoos, and here are some of the fun ones...

I did this GoG logo on one of the volunteers at their table.  Lettering's not my strong suit, but I think it came out pretty good!

This boy's mom was skeptical about his desire to become a dragon until she saw his face.  Then even she was a fan.  He absolutely loved it.

This young lady just wanted a heart on her cheek, but you know I can't stop with just that.  So she got to be a heart princess instead.  When she saw the mirror, she was ecstatic with the improvements.

These two were funny.  They came up together in a group of giggly girls, wanting a butterfly and... wait for it... a jellyfish.  A jellyfish?  Heck, I'll try anything once, and they were happy.  To her, jellyfish are pretty, and I did make it shimmery of course. 

Personally, they freak me out.  Seriously, I don't understand them.  Where are the parts?  Where's the brain?  Eyes?  How does it think?  Ah, to each her own.

I had a few takers for the glitter tattoos, like this dolphin and the Irish skull.

The most fun thing of the day, though, was that my friends Denise and Bill came to the fair with their son, Kody, not knowing I'd be there.  I painted at Kody's first birthay, but of course now that he's almost 3, he doesn't remember that.  He had me do a snake on his arms, and loved how it's running up one arm and down the other, so it looks like it's running right through his shirt.

A lot of people thanked me for being there and for helping out such a great charity, and it felt great.  I hope they have me back next year!

My July 4th

My 4th of July this year was long.  And hot.  I have no idea how the kids do it, running around in the sun and heat, but I wish I was one of them sometimes.  Of course, I don't remember being that fine in that sort of weather, so maybe I was always old?

(Of course, I'll only be 40 at the end of this month, so "old" is a state of mind.  Or body.  I haven't decided which.)

On the morning of the 4th, my husband Eric and I made shampoo, since our web store was out of stock.  Then in the afternoon, I was hired by a wonderful event organizer, Premier Productions, to paint kids at a big party at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ.  It's a beautiful place, and the event organizer was very good to the entertainers.  She had canopies, tables, and chairs set up for each of us, plus enough cold water to keep us going.

That striped tent had games for the kids to play.  There was also this terrific balloon artist.

Plus, a magician.  The balloon artist apparently had a large number of requests for aliens, because then the kidos came to me to have their faces match!  As someone who's ever only painted one alien face before, it was fun to have several in one day; gave me a challenge to change them up a bit as I went.

Even some of the club staff got painted, like this Tinkerbell fan, which is always fun for me.

Some of the kids stuck with the patriotic theme, of course.

And others didn't.

Some went completely another direction and were looking for my favorite, the horror faces.  One boy was very definite about wanting to be a vampire, and another, age 12, just gave me the instruction that he wanted the most gory, bloody, horrible thing I could do.  So here goes, a vampire and a zombie.

And you just have to love kids who play up to the photography!  Hams are the best!

Believe it or not, after four hours of this, I went home, took a shower, and then Eric and I went to a party hosted by one of our own friends.  It wasn't until the next day that we got to see fireworks in Ridgewood.