What a Party!

I painted this evening at a christening that could've been a bar mitzvah or wedding. It was at Macaluso's in Hawthorne, and the proud parents were hosting a big crowd. The DJ kept everyone busy, but as soon as I started to set up, the kids gathered. I didn't even put my table up before they were jockeying to go first.

The hit face tonight was the puppy, just like one I did at the birthday yesterday. No one even wanted a different sort of dog - a dalmation or a shih tzu - they were all about the hound-like dog I painted initially. I had two tigers, lots of peace signs, and a couple of other faces, but the one I actually liked best was on a teenager who just asked for a really small butterfly by her eye.

I can't peg exactly why I like it so much, but it strikes me as really clean, pretty, and simple. She was absolutely in love with it, and the customer's reaction always colors my opinion of the painting too. So that must be it also.

More Challenges... and Teenagers are Loons!

I painted at a restaurant again tonight, and the kids were great. I had to be meeting the most articulate, fun children who were just SO excited to see me there with my face painting kit!

It was a new kit, too. I am now the proud owner of a Snazaroo Pro-54... because, you know, I didn't have enough colors. Ha! It's great, though, so compact and organized, and it made my setup, especially in a small space, so incredibly easy. My entire kit tonight was contained in this case:

Which contained this pallet of colors...

... as well as glitter, shimmer, and all my other necessary supplies.

I love painting without my sample books, because it encourages the kids to come up with new ideas, and yet again they didn't disappoint. My first young victim wanted to be Tinkerbell, but also wanted Tink painted on her. How to accommodate? I think I did a pretty good job!

Apparently, so did the three other girls who asked for the design in other colors. Another girl in this group, a little older than the rest, decided to stray from the pack... and be a cocker spaniel. Now, I've painted dalmations, a face painter's standard. I've painted hound dogs, bulldogs, and shih tzus. I have never painted a cocker spaniel, which was requested in brown to look like my model's own dog. I was afraid it looked too much like a poodle, but she loved the result...

On the other hand, if I ever get called upon to paint a poodle, I think I've got a great start.

There was, of course, in amongst the several Spidermen, the requisite arm painting. I think these fish came out very cute, though, and my model loved them.

Then came the teenagers, a bunch of very fun nuts who wanted each other's names and goofy drawings to go with them. One boy got a very pink and flowery "Biff." And no, I have no idea why.

And another got a pineapple (a pineapple?) with his friend's name underneath.

Hey, who am I to fault anyone with a sense of humor and a willingness to be painted?