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.

Another Sort of 1st Birthday

Unlike my nephew's low key birthday, this one was an all-out bash.  I had a lot of models, too!

  

The two boys were brothers, and I think it was the younger one's first full face.  So cute!

 

The second mouse I've ever done!

 

And my first elephant in ages.

I love doing lop-eared bunnies.

 

Normally, I do sharks at the mouth so the shark's mouth is the model's mouth.  The kids love it when they can make the sharks bite.  But this little cutie had a rash on his cheeks, so I decided to change it up a bit...

Another Good Evening

I painted at a restaurant again tonight. I've been there several times, but only saw one of my "regular" customers, a little boy who gets a race car on his arm every single time I paint him. Before, it was red. Tonight, I changed it up and did blue, convincing him that he didn't want a black one. Trying to get decent definition on a black car would just not be easy. It's like when kids want to be painted as Darth Vader. I can do a kickin' Darth Maul,

but Darth Vader? Not so easy, what with the all black. I made the mistake of attempting it once. Calling the result a "blob" would be generous.

Most of the evening was spent painting my usual... rainbows with butterflies, rainbows with dolphins, flowers, a tiger, and yes... a Darth Maul.

I did get one little girl who wanted Zoe. It took me a minute and some help from mom to place the name: They'd recently gotten back from Sesame Place, and Zoe is Elmo's orange friend. In fact, the girl's sister got Elmo.

They looked cute together, though while the girls were posing their arms, some Elmo transferred onto Zoe, I notice in the photo.

One boy was truly original. He's the first ever, in all my years of painting, to sit down and say, "Can you do an alien?" Can I do an alien?! Of course I can do an alien! An alien means I get to run free!

I see things I'd add or define more, but I honestly like the result. And he was quite the happy customer.

A New Idea

I love it when the kids come up with a new idea for me.

Tonight while I painted the hordes waiting for me at a restaurant, the kids noticed my rainbow cake, and came up with a design I'd never tried before; a rainbow peace sign. It's amazing how the old stuff, like peace signs, just never go out of style with certain age groups. The design was a life saver, since I had a lot of "customers" and only two hours.

I like it! It saved me from the plethora of dolphins I also painted.

I must admit, though, that it wasn't quite as challenging as other designs kids have requested out of the blue, like Ronald McDonald and Grimace....

Or even crazier... Alf! Or a hamster (though the hamster, to be honest, wasn't at a restaurant)!

Who but kids would have thought of these designs? Heck, I'm surprised kids even remember Alf. My favorite thing, though, is a challenge. I may crash and burn, but I'm really likely to try it!