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...

I got up at 6:30 this morning.

Yes, on a Saturday.  I had a good reason, though.  I was face painting with two other artists at the Valerie Fund walk in Verona Park this morning.

We were all painting furiously for several hours straight, so I only had a little time to take photos, but here are some of them.

Two princesses and a monster.

A request for a red skeleton that was neither bloody nor angry, so we added glitter.  Nothing with glitter could be angry.  Except maybe my cat.  He glares at me when I get glitter on him.

My first bumblebee in many years.

A shark.

A tiger.  As you know, I love it when adults want to get painted.

A request for a unicorn with rainbows, for which I simply didn't have time.  Instead, my model compromised with me for a unicorn with a rainbow mane.

My very first werewolf.

And some wildcats.  I painted the two on the left; one of the other two artists painted the leopard.

Improvements

Tonight was another meeting of the northern NJ Face & Body Art Guild, and I was finally able to make it again. I've missed several meetings because of the show and rehearsals.  Now that we're out of rehearsals, and in fact there's only one weekend left, I've got time.

[Subliminal message:  The show is great, and there's only one weekend left, so you should see it!  Click here to buy tickets.]

And I am now, quite literally, a card-carrying member of the guild!

How cute is that?

This month's meeting was especially valuable, as we had a guest teacher to lead our workshop, Pashur.  Yup, the same great guy whose class I took back in November.  He's really a great person in addition to being a great artist, and it was fun to see him again.

In addition to a great new parrot design, he showed us ways to really improve our sharks.  Plus, I learned this great tattoo-style rose that, when filled in and shaded, is similar to an Ed Hardy look.

Polished up, filled in, shaded, and surrounded by some tribals or thorny vines, this will be a phenomenal addition to my repertoire.

The best part of Pashur's workshops are the games that get you to push your boundaries.  One game was to fingerpaint fifteen 3-color roses with a vine, leaves, and a bumblebee... first person to finish won, so we needed to move fast and throw skill and "pretty" out the window.  The range of outcomes was hilarious.

Mine was second from the left.

I can't wait to put my new skills and ideas to good use!